


Nanto Ito (Despite Intentions)

by Nethvester



Category: Finder no Hyouteki | Finder Series
Genre: Alpha/Beta/Omega Dynamics, Alternate Universe, Dominant/Submissive, Fluff and Smut, M/M, Not Canon Compliant, Origins, Out of Character
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-02-18
Updated: 2019-05-31
Packaged: 2019-10-30 18:27:00
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Rape/Non-Con, Underage
Chapters: 11
Words: 44,850
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17833826
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Nethvester/pseuds/Nethvester
Summary: Some Myths are true.The Finder Series (Viewfinder), is written by, illustrated by, and belongs to Yamane Ayano. I own none of her characters and make no money from this fan fiction.Author's note: Several of you have asked if there will be male pregnancy in this story and how soon this would happen. The answer to the first part is yes; however the underage flag I have marked is NOT between Asami and Akihito. This plot takes place in a slightly removed universe from our own and regardless of reports and anime tropes as an Ethnic group the Japanese like most of us would find sex between and adult and a child (even one legally allowed to have sex) distasteful and immoral.  Asami is a lot of things, but at his core his is a Fixer and would no more consciously harm a child than any other decent human being. Yamane wrote him with grey colored values, but he does have lines he will not cross and I cannot help but believe this is one of them and this universe is too close to our own for me to cross them in this story.





	1. Prolog

The man frowned down at the newspaper. At the top front page was a grainy image of a were-ōkami rampaging through the darkness of the after midnight lighting in Ueno Park of the Ueno District. The story accompanying the image was equally disgraceful with its attempt to wax poetic about the dangers of the creatures to the human population regardless what the creature's representatives in the Diet have said. It went on to conclude were-ōkami were nothing better than animals and should be shut away into the wilderness reserves far away from the proper citizens of Japan.  
  
He scoffed, though only in his head, as he perused the rest of the paper's front page articles. The top of the fold held two other similar stories to its Ueno Park one. One was of a pair of supposed teenage Weres that got drunk and vandalized a nearby high school, actions the paper claimed no respectable human Japanese would ever perpetrate. The other an interview with a concerned citizen about the Were toddlers attending the preschool near her home. She had pulled her own child from the center out of fear of what the beasts might due to her precious baby boy.  
  
Asami grunted aloud at the woman's distress, as if any of us would eat that scrawny human. He flipped through the pages until he found the article he was actually looking for nine pages into the national news. It was of the Diet vote that had taken place earlier in the week. After nearly twenty years of campaigning, Were beings were now officially citizens of Japan. August 1st would forever be a special day in his people's history.  
  
Now instead of having to lean on the nature preservation and endangered species laws to protect them Asami's pack were full-fledged citizens of the country they were born in. They had been forced to out themselves not long after the end of World War II. The changes brought on by the dropping of the Hydrogen bombs had reduced their population past their ability to sustain. Though, it was his mother's untimely death that led to his father's decision to out their species.  
  
It took years to actually make the announcement. After all it was not just Japan's Were-ōkami that his father had to concern his self with when he determined the world needed to know about them. On Japan's islands alone there also lived Were-kitsune and Were-ryu and that didn't even cover the Weres in China, Russia, India, Europe, Africa, and the Americas. For centuries they had kept their presence among the humans secret and his elder knew that ousting their pack, even to ensure their survival, would lead the rest of the world to investigate if there were others.  
  
So the ousting of the Weres across the world was carefully planned. Arguments were addressed, compromises made, and truces between numerous packs, prides, skulks, flocks, and flights were hammered out before his own father had addressed the United Nations. He'd stood before the general assembly and transformed. It took another twenty plus years for the world's population to not only accept they were truly real but to agree they should have equal rights.  
  
The results of the Vote had been front page news on August second. Now only two days later it had been shoved to the back of the national sections of most papers. He tossed the one he was holding to the table and spent several minutes perusing the Yomiuri, Asahi, Mainichi, Sankei, and Nikkei Shimbun respectively. He was only slightly more pleased with their continued coverage of the important Act. Oh well, the law had passed. It would take more than a single change to one law to get the humans to truly accept them.  
  
He picked up his coffee and swallowed the last of it as he rose from the dining table. A silent servant started cleaning up his place as soon as he moved away from the table. He exited the room and traveled down the hallway to his wife's chamber. She was bed bound for her last trimester. The woman was trapped in their house, palatial and luxurious as it was, in order to give their pup the best possible chance of survival.  
  
He opened the door to her suit and found her nearly asleep as she leaned against a mound of pillows. An IV ran into her arm and though she had clearly cleaned her plate of food, as she did at every meal, she still looked overly thin and drawn.  
  
This was the reason his father had revealed the Weres as a race. All across the globe their people, every type of Were, were losing more members of their populations than they birthed. Their mates quite often unable to conceive and when it did happen the lucky couple often lost their pup or worse both the pup and mother. He crossed the room and looked at his love. She had brought joy to his home and a light that his pack had not seen since the end of the Great War and his own mother's untimely death.  
  
Now she lay dying. They both knew she would not survive the pup's birth. It had been a given when she nearly miscarried in her second trimester. She lay ghostly against the dark sheets. He reached out to brush the hair from her face only to have her jerk awake and screamed.  
  
He paced up and down the hallway flinching at each scream his wife gave. Their personal physician and the midwife had thrown him out of the room over an hour before and he'd paced the hallway since. Now he no longer heard her scream and knew his wife too weak to make noise. Still there was no sign of the child.  
  
He whipped around when the door opened and the doctor exited the room. They looked at each other before the physician said, "I will have to cut her to save the child and even then I cannot promise they will survive."  
  
He wept inside but firmly replied, "Do what you must. The child's life outweighs my mate's. It is what she decided."  
  
The doctor nodded and stepped back into the room. It felt like numerous hours had passed before other sounds were heard in the house, but what a sound it was. A wail like none the man had heard before sounded through the closed door. It was followed by a shouted set of instructions and running feet. The door slammed open and one of the parlor maids exited with a wrapped bundle.  
  
It was shoved into the man's hands before the girl turned and rushed back into the room. She failed to close the door behind her. He carefully held the bundled babe against his chest and went to stand in the doorway. His wife's bed was covered in gore and blood. He knew it was such by its smell though its color was all wrong for being exposed to the oxygen rich air. It was too thick and too dark, and even from where he stood he could tell too much seeped from his wife's womb. The doctor, the midwife, and all the house staff in the room were trying, but his wife was already gone.  
  
The babe in his arms wailed again and he turned the blanket back to look at the child. Bright gold eyes shone from the tiny raven haired face. There was a gentle hand on his shoulder and the man looked back over it to follow the arm up to his own father's face. The older man was solemn, "What shall you name it?"  
  
He glanced down again moving the blanket about to discern the gender before replying, "Ryuichi. It was what she wanted for a boy."  
  
The older man smiled, "We shall endeavor to fulfill her wish then." He gently took the babe and peered into its golden eyes, "You will be a Noble Beast indeed." 


	2. Modern Day Packs

Asami scoffed, though only in his head, as he perused the headlines from the Tokyo Shimbun. The main page was filled with stories and speculation about the rash of killings through the twenty-three special wards of old Tokyo city. The deaths were making doing business really hard. At least they hadn't decided to connect the deaths to the Werewolves. Though with the gruesome killings often being described as savage animal attacks, Asami didn't figure that leap was far off. He phone rang; he glared at it until it stopped.   
  
He reached for his coffee and scrolled down the page to see what other stories made the morning news. Most were arguments about the trade agreements the Prime Minister was working on getting the Diet to agree to with South Korea, China and Russia. Still there was a whole section on the new club Sion Corporation was opening in Chiyoda. The Manga themed club was lambasted as jumping on the wagon by the business reporters, though the opinion piece seemed to have zero effect on the price of stock. Sion's having already risen by nearly thirty points since the announcement.   
  
As much as several business experts hated his new venue, the entertainment section had three separate raving reviews of the place which didn't even officially open until Saturday evening. Asami scoffed again when he read how children of all ages would enjoy the fun, riotously colored interior of the location and his stomach nearly turned at the first floor shop's comparison to Anpan sweet rolls causing him to rethink his decision to allow a regular Manga shop to grace the first floor of the five story building he'd bought and repurposed.   
  
He sighed to his self as he turned from the entertainment section; he only ever checked it when he opened a new club anyway. He was glancing through the travel section to see if the ads they'd bought had made it to the front page when his eyes were caught by a small image of a bikini clad woman lying against the long lean form of a black wolf. The link was to a relationship management page almost hidden among the other Health news.   
  
He'd recognized the Wolf from an image he'd seen in one of the reports Kirishima delivered to him daily. Sakazaki had wooed another into his clutches. Asami grimaced; he really needed to find something on the man so he could force a disbanding of the cretin's pack. It wasn't that Asami cared there were other packs in Tokyo. His was, and would always be, the largest, strongest, and most cohesive one in the whole of the Japanese archipelago. No, his issue was with the man personally; Asami's pack had very clear rules for who was allowed to expose themselves as actual Were.   
  
It may have been over thirty years since Were's were recognized as being equal under the law, but that didn't erase hatred and fear. There was no reason to bring the population's scrutiny on their race and the Asami pack rules had kept them save for over half a century. Sakazaki seemed intent to ruin that by openly running a club of Were. Worse he was populating the place with young impressionable Were that had no packs, skulk, or flights to protect their interests.   
  
He randomly clicked away from the advertisement for the man's club and found himself on a Werewolf pack dynamics page. He nearly chuckled. It had clearly been written by a human. It was full of false information and barely tolerable explanations about how Werewolves actually functioned in groups.   
  
He did chuckle when he reached the short section of definitions. First, Alpha and Beta were titles; they were not positions Werewolves were born into like gender. Additionally there were only two personality types in Werewolves dominant and submissive. The most dominate became the pack Alpha. The next two typically became Betas and were as in charge of the pack as the Alpha.   
  
Other dominant personalities in the pack arranged themselves by prevalence of the trait and situation often trading out minor leadership roles by specific situation. Very few could be dominant in every situation not even the Alpha. Even Asami yielded to the pack's doctors and surgeons about the health of pack members.   
  
Being submissive wasn't a sexual thing among the pack either. Though it was not uncommon for packs to have mated doms and subs. No it was just the least aggressive of the personalities. Many would think submissive wolves would fast fine themselves dead in packs but in truth they were needed as much if not more than the dominant wolves. The submissive wolves gave the pack someone to protect and to care for. They brought music and art into what otherwise would be a society of warring factions. They were by no means push overs either. Some of the physically strongest wolves he knew were submissive.   
  
He glanced through the rest of the definitions and laughed out loud at the finial one. Omegas, what was it with the human fascination around the sub group of Weres. They were a myth; as in they only existed in Were mythology. They were less real than the Kami of the Shinto religion which were a primitive response to the Weres existence anyway. There were hermaphrodite, or intersex as they were now called, found in Were populations just like they were found in human's. Omegas, though, were pure fantasy.   
  
He shut the paper's app down and pulled up his appointment list. It was only a few moments before Kirishima came to pick him up for the office where according to his schedule there were nearly four hours of back to back meetings before he would be cutting the ribbon of the Manga floor of the new Club and from the greyed out section in the middle of the day it appeared he would only be getting a small snack between the end of meetings and the ribbon cutting.   
  
Luckily there was a gala dinner this evening where he and Kirishima knew steak would be served. A good thing considering that the one thing the article had gotten correct was that Werewolves were meat eaters. Their alternant personalities were predators after all.   
  
Akihito bounced from foot to foot trying to see over the freakishly tall people in front of the new Manga store. He wouldn't normally be bothered by the fact that the bulk of people around him were taller than he was. Embarrassing as it was to be so short at fifteen it was a boon on most of his assignments, today not so much.   
  
It was his own fault really. He'd stayed at the docks after his stakeout much longer than he should have. In fact he'd stayed hours past capturing images of the seedy politician and the thugs he was meeting. Aki had wanted to catch the sunrise over the bay.   
  
So, he'd stayed and done so. Now however he was paying for it as he'd fallen asleep on the train and missed his stop. He was nearly on the other side of Tokyo before he woke up and he'd lost several hours getting back to the paper. Once there he'd learned he was running late for the shop's opening and he was the designated photographer of the event.   
  
Now he was at the back of the gathered crowd and none of them paid any attention to him as he tried to flash his press pass and get closer. After several minutes of pushing and shoving only to be effectively ignored he gave up trying to get through the crowd and started looking for a way around.   
  
The area was full of manga and anime shops though none on the street were as large as the one about to open. Each shop on the street was one of two varieties, manga and anime accessories or book slash video stores. The street during the day was crowded with otaku though he had no idea how that was supposed to help. Then he saw it.   
  
A man was sitting at the entrance to the alley between the new store and the building next to it. Across the alley he had placed a miniature replica wall of one of the cities of Titan and was putting on a puppet show with Chibi plush versions of the Anime's characters. Aki jogged around the crowd, rolling to a stop at the wall, "So I can be a titan for you after the ribbon cutting if you let me stand on top of this." He pointed to the structure.   
  
The man frowned at him, "one thousand yen."   
  
Aki glanced at the front of the store, "two hundred."   
  
"Five hundred," the man smiled as he held out his hand. Aki sighed and slapped the bill into the man's hand. The man's grin widened, "oh and no complaining if it falls out from under you."   
  
Aki just smiled and scrambled to the top of the foam block wall.   
  
It was perfect. He was now taller than all of the other photographers and from his new vantage point he was able to catch images of even the back hidden row of investors in Sion Corp's newest venture. Though, he carefully ensured that he got photos of all the celebrities as well. The entertainment division wouldn't pay him for shots of stodgy old men in suites.   
  
The speeches were winding down and the crowd cheered as the ribbon was cut and the doors opened. A surge of patrons caused the outer edge of the ribbon cutting guests to be pushed to the sides. Several investors in suits were backed into the front of the foam brick wall kicking it with their feet. The man that owned it started yelling at them and flailing his arms to shoo them away.   
  
One of the flailing limbs hit Akihito right in the back of the knee and he toppled over. Only his quick reflexes prevented him from landing on his face. Well that and the dark suited man whose back he all but landed on. The man turned and steadied him by his shoulder asking if he was ok. Aki more worried about his camera nodded, "um, yeah, arigato" and then checked his equipment over.   
  
Asami almost chuckled at the blonde photographer. He was slight of build but muscular and clearly had more concern about his camera than he did himself. The boy smelled delicious reminding Asami of the finest in Italian wine and sweet pears though both smells were backed by a faint chemical scent he didn't recognize. Asami was just about to ask for the boy's name when Kirishima grasped his elbow, "Sir, you're going to be late to your three o'clock." Asami nodded and glanced back to where the boy had been standing only to find he'd gone.   
  
Akihito jogged down the street a ways before removing his camera case from his back and stowing his Nikon safely. He was glad it hadn't gotten harmed in his near miss. Really, I need to be less clumsy. He glanced back at the alley noticing that the bulk of the crowd had dispersed either into the shop or away on more important tasks. There was, however, a sizable crowd now watching the performer with his puppets. It made Aki smile and knowing his shots were good had him almost skipping his way back to the news office.   
  
Asami's three o'clock was with a representative from a Hokkaidō pack. The packs on the northern island were strange even to Asami. They were almost insular in how they lived and how they discouraged any interaction with outsiders and it was a wonder they weren't completely inbred. This representative had requested a meeting with him personally.   
  
Asami would normally not meet with another pack rep unless the rep had met with Kirishima first to determine if what the rep wanted to discuss was worth Asami's time. This rep refused to speak with Kei however and Asami held to much respect for the oldest packs to outright refuse. So Kei had worked the man in between the ribbon cutting and Asami's schedule inspection of Dracen before the gala.   
  
The werewolf that entered Asami's office was like no wolf he'd ever come across. The man was old, bent over a cane, and careful with his steps. He maneuvered himself to the chair that Kirishima held for him and settled into it saying, "Greetings Asami-sama. I am the Shimo Pack Beta and wish to ask a boon of you."   
  
"I will listen to your request but I do not promise to fulfill it." Asami sat back down behind his desk, pulled out a Dunhill and allowed Kirishima to light it. "Speak, what would the Shimo Pack request of the Asamis?" The old man smiled and Asami was taken back at how pointed the man's teeth were.   
  
The Shimo Pack was the oldest most insular of werewolf packs. It was known that the Alpha and Betas of the pack preached and practiced the oldest traditions. Among those was that the Alpha and Betas took many mates. Another was that the pack still practiced "Saisho no yoru no kenri" or "right of the first night" for all breeders under the flawed belief that the Alpha's and Beta's would spawn healthier children than lower ranking members of the pack.   
  
It was a practice that was often whispered about in fictional stories and heroic tales of their people but only the Shimo Pack had any actual documented cases. Asami wondered how the pack's Alphas survived if it was true. His own pack would rise against him if he so much as hinted he wanted to bed one of their wives. Still, the man before him was an elder and though Asami paid little respect to others he would show difference to this one, at least while the man was in his office.   
  
"Saisho no yoru no kenri" though, was the least of the unsavory practices the pack was said to still follow. The consumption of human flesh and that of pack members was taboo. The Shimo saw humans as food and traitors to their pack were always cannibalized.   
  
The Were crossed his hands on top of his ebony cane and gave Asami another tooth filled grin, "We have a run away. We believe he's living here in your territory now and wish your permission to hunt him." He held up a hand when Kirishima started to ask a question, "No we normally don't chase anyone wishing to leave the pack, however this run away took something with him when he left."   
  
"He stole from you?" Asami asked calmly.   
  
"My alpha does not wish to use that term, yet. We believe the boy thinks it belonged to his deceased parents and is now his." The old man leaned back in his seat, "Still our Alpha would like it back." He paused then as if trying to find the correct words, "It has sentimental value to him."   
  
"How young?"   
  
"The boy turned fifteen in early May. He esca… left the village a year ago and it took us nearly two months before we realized the item was missing." The man frowned, "out of respect we did not disturb him or his parent's house during the mourning period. Little did we know he'd use the time to flee from us."   
  
"Hum, and what do I get for letting your hunters roam about my city?" Asami leaned forward. "I am aware that your pack still practices certain rites. I will not have those practiced in my territory."   
  
The man nodded, "We understand and will only send out our most discreet hunters. They will carry funds to purchase food like the humans eat during our search." The man smiled again. "We are too small a pack to engage with you on theological grounds."   
  
"Do you have a picture and name for this boy?"   
  
The old man pulled a worn photo out, "It is a couple of years old now, but this is the most recent photo we have." He passed it to Kirishima continuing with, "the boy's family name was Masakado, his given Akihito. Though I suspect he changed them."   
  
Asami took the photo but glanced at the old man questioning, "Why would he have need to do that?"   
  
"Teenage whim? I truly wouldn't know, but none of the towns we've searched so far have even had a hint of a Masakado." He settled back in his chair again.   
  
Asami glanced down at the photo; it was of a young boy. He was smiling into the camera that had taken the photo. The sun was behind his head and while it should have shadowed his face the white snow around him bounced it back. The boy was classically Japanese in bone structure but that is where similarity ended. His eyes were bright hazel green and his hair nearly white. The sun shining through it made him look like he wore a halo.   
  
Asami looked up, "I will allow you one hunter whom you must introduce me to before you begin your search." He nodded at Kirishima to signal the meeting was over.   
  
The old man reached out for the photo but Asami shook his head, "I'll be keeping this. Surely there are others at the village."   
  
The man paused then nodded, "Yes, yes, of course there are."   
  
Asami didn't stand as Kirishima led the man out. Instead he found his gaze drawn back to the photo. In it the boy has clearly just stopped snowboarding. He was sitting and looking up at the camera. It was hard to see anything about the boy but his face over the board and Asami found himself irritated that the image wasn't a better shot.   
  
The door to his office opened, "Kirishima, I want you to take this and have our Techs age the face and find out what you can about a Masakado Akihito in the national database. The Shimo Pack might practice archaic eating and mating habits but they still get government assistance to live out there on the northern edge of Hokkaidō and that means that all the pack members must be in the national citizenry database."   
  
"Hai, Asami-sama. I will have the results on your desk in the morning." He held open the door for his Alpha, "We should be going however or you will not have time between the inspection and the Gala."   
  
Asami rose and handed the photo over. He paused at the door though and frowned, "Have Suoh find someone to follow the Shimo around as well. I didn't miss the old may saying the boy 'escaped' them before he tried to change it. I find it hard to believe that any wolf would leave his pack before even half of the sixty days of mourning are up, especially a young wolf that lost his parents. Something else is going on; I want to know what it is before they find the boy." 


	3. Chasing a Runaway

Akihito ran through the night, breath heaving in his chest as he twisted and turn around a sharp corner. Of all the times to too close to his target it had to be on the night he was sent out to photograph werewolves. He had to get to a more populous area. The two men behind him had already started growling and he could hear the sounds of ripping fabric.  
  
He ran with his head low glancing into alley after alley praying he'd see one with a fire escape. As luck would have it he reached a crowded walkway fronting an upscale night club. The summer sun was finally sinking below the city horizon and Aki used the lowered light to slip between two of the parked limos. He crouched as the two buffoons chasing him came to a swift but clumsy halt, near the parked vehicles. The club bouncers took one look at them and came closer to the walkway to forestall their attempts to trundle through the line awaiting entry.  
  
Akihito took the opportunity to slip out from between the cars and down the nearby alley. He ran with little regard to what was between him and the drain pipe on the side of the closest building causing him to miss the black BMW parked in the narrow space. He ran headlong into the front bumper, knocking himself off his own feet and the wind out of his own lungs.  
  
His brain scrambled as the largest person he'd ever seen exited the vehicle and leaned over him. A shout from the head of the alley though brought Akihito back to his senses; he leapt to his feet and jumped past the behemoth reaching for him onto the vehicle's roof before using it to jump to the pipe and scramble up the side of the building.  
  
Suoh stood shocked as the small blonde scampered up the BMW, onto a drain pipe, and over the top of the building. Then two of his pack members came careening down the alley towards him, "Suoh-san! Suoh-san! Catch him!"  
  
Suoh looked the two panting wolves up and down, "I'm not going up the side of the building on that flimsy pipe. Why are you chasing him?"  
  
"He took pictures of the information exchange with Councilor Satomi." The two men were panting, "We've been chasing him for nearly nine blocks." The older of the two slumped to the ground hanging his head between his knees. The younger of the two was holding his stomach like it was cramping.  
  
"Well that isn't something I wanted to hear before heading to the Gala." Asami's baritone washed over the three men in the alley causing two of the three to snap to attention. Asami looked their disheveled appearances over, "So someone out ran you?"  
  
"Hai, sir!" the two guards bowed low, "We're very sorry, Asami-sama!"  
  
Asami lit a Dunhill and looked at Suoh, "Why didn't you detain him?"  
  
Suoh shrugged, "Thought he was a street waif, didn't even know he was running from us until he'd already clamored over the top of the building." He pointed to the roof.  
  
Asami looked at the building, "How did he even get up there?"  
  
"Climbed the drain pipe." Suoh shrugged and checked his watch. "Kirishima is going to kill us both if we don't leave now. There is only a short window through which you'll be able to enter the Gala unnoticed."  
  
Asami nodded and went to enter the BMW then paused. He looked at the two pack members still panting, "You let a human outrun you. I expect you to run back to the pack lodging and then another three hours on the treadmills." He slid into the back seat with that; he was going to have to review his third's training regime if humans were outrunning members of the pack.  
  
Akihito ran for another three blocks before he slowed down. Slumping on a nearby bus bench he rested his limbs and did his best to control his breathing. By the time the bus stopped at his bench he'd gotten his breath back and was smiling. He hopped aboard and took the route to his paper. The chief would be over the moon about the tradeoff Akihito had caught on film and Aki would get a fat bonus in his end of week check.  
  
The news room was nearly empty, except for their chief; Akihito swears the man must sleep at the office. There was also Kimio, the lead interviewer for the entertainment section, and Shinotake, a fellow photographer, holding a whispered argument. Akihito ignored them and strolled into the chief's office. The man smiled, "Akihito-kun! Got something good do you?"  
  
"Yep!" Aki paused, "Wait how did you know?"  
  
His chief laughed, "You have that air about you." He made grabby fingers with his hands, "show them to me. What politician are you putting away now?"  
  
Aki scrolled through his shoots for the day grinning, "I don't know that it will put him away but I did catch, Councilor Satomi Soga taking," he turned his camera to his chief so the man could see, "bribes."  
  
His chief took the Nikon and smiled, "and you got the money shot too." He frowned then, "too bad you can't see the face of the provider." He leaned back in his chair, "Its fine though. We'll just run it as a mysterious donor." He looked up at the young boy, "how did you even know to be there?"  
  
"Yamazaki told me." Akihito decided he should take the old investigator out for Ramen considering that shots of councilors paid very well. "Do you need me to write the story?"  
  
"Nah, go on home for the day, I'll write it up before the print deadline."  
  
Akihito nodded, plugged his Nikon into his boss' computer and loaded up the images from the stake out. He pulled out the cord and packed everything away once he was done. The whole visit took no more than ten minutes, but he was still surprised to find Kimio arguing with Shinotake.  
  
The older man's voice was no longer a whisper though and his displeasure rang loudly across the news room, "I've been in this business for twenty-five years, young lady and this is what you expect a photographer of my experience to shoot?"  
  
Kimio held up her hands defensively, "Please Shinotake-sama, you know I'll schedule something better with the news desk for next week, but I have to have a replacement photographer tonight. Our usual one has strep throat and is hospitalized."  
  
The man shook his head, "Not available, I only photograph important stuff. Find someone else."  
  
He turned and walked out of the building as the Chief poked his head out of his office. "Couldn't convince the old buzzard could you?"  
  
"No, chief, I'm sorry. I'll find something else to put on the front page of the entertainment section, I promise." Kimio smiled worriedly.  
  
Aki had almost made it to the door but her soft voice carried through the empty office and he couldn't find it in himself to leave her hanging. He turned on his heel and came back glancing at the chief for permission before saying, "I could take photos of whatever you need Kimio-sama."  
  
The woman looked him over then at the chief who nodded; she smiled as she turned back, "Do you have a suit?"  
  
Aki nodded, "It's a little worn and I'll have to shower before I get into it. What's the job?"  
  
Kimio smiled, "let me drive you to your flat and we'll discuss on the way. Thank you for doing this. I know the entertainment section isn't what you want to be known for."  
  
Aki held the door for her as the left the office, "Well to be honest I just love taking photographs, as long as they're not for Omiais."  
  
Kimio laughed, "I can agree those are awful. My first job was with a company that helped professionals set up their Omiai profiles. The interviews were the worst."  
  
The car was a light blue Suzuki Spacia and Kimio drove it like there was no one else on the road. By the time they reached his dumpy 1DK Akihito had serious doubts about allowing her to drive him to the event she needed help with.  
  
Akihito's stomach growled about the time they pulled up to his apartment and Kimio laughed, "Tell you what, if you can get showered and changed in fifteen minutes I'll spring for a late dinner when we're through."  
  
"Deal!" Akihito didn't give her time to change her mind leaping from the car and running up the three flights of stairs to his dinky apartment. He was back down showered, changed, and even carrying a clean camera bag with three minutes to spare.  
  
Half an hour later they were pulling into the underground parking deck of the Association For Lycanthrope Inclusion's Annual "Embrace Your Inner Beast" Gala and Akihito was seriously reconsidering allowing the woman to drive him anywhere else even for free food.  
  
The Annual "Embrace Your Inner Beast" Gala was a black tie event attended by the cream of society. Actors, actresses, singers, athletes, and designers joined city councilmen, Diet members, doctors, lawyers, and major players of Japan's business world to partake of numerous gourmet dishes, wax poetic about how important the Were community was to Japan's social diversity and stability, and interact with carefully chosen submissives from local Werewolf packs, Werefox skulks, and Weredragon flights.  
  
Akihito laughed to his self as he followed Kimio into the venue thinking to himself, wouldn't want the humans to meet one of the actual Alphas.  
  
Kimio took him through the kitchen speaking finial instructions as they went, "We're late so take as many pictures as you can. We need as many as possible of these folks interacting with the Weres, ok?"  
  
"Images of Humans and Weres interacting socially check!" Aki was busy inspecting his camera insuring it had plenty of memory left when he felt Kimio's hand on his arm. He looked at her.  
  
Her usual smile and easy manner was gone. It had been replaced by a serious expression Akihito had never seen on Kimio's face before. She took a deep breath before saying, "This is serious, Akihito. Humans and Were need to learn to get along. I know this is just a prearranged set up and that these events don't reflect what really goes on; but the point is image. We need more leaders and influencers showing that they support equal rights for Lycanthropes."  
  
Akihito smiled. Kimio was human; he was certain of this because all he ever smelled on her was soap, unlike actual Were attempting to hid who they were and typically smelled of cologne or body spray. "I'll take the best pictures for you Kimio-san. Don't worry. You just get some good quotes to go with them."  
  
She smiled and pushed the door open as she plastered her friendly smile back into place, "Let's do this."  
  
They split from each other as they entered the room. Kimio headed into the crowd with her tape recorder as Akihito hugged the edge of the room trying to reach the balcony on the second floor. He was positive his zoom lens would allow him more pictures than he'd otherwise get trying to move through the throng like several other photographers from other papers were doing. He did take an occasional snap as he moved however. There were several very smartly dressed actors and actresses dancing with what Aki could tell by smell were wolves. As he snapped the images he tried discerning which person was which.  
  
After all just because Were's were legally citizens didn't mean that all of them were out to the public. The packs that survived the best were the ones that kept their most ruthless members secret. He could usually tell when there were only a few of the creatures around him. Now however the room was filled with cloying perfume and cologne and frankly the scents were giving him a headache.  
  
He quickly finished his shots of the dancers and moved into the small hallway beyond them. He made his way up the short flight of stairs to the narrow balcony nodding to several other photographers as he maneuvered to an open location before bending down and changing his lens.  
  
The next few hours were very satisfying for Akihito. The shots he took weren't of dirty politicians, or at least weren't of their dirty deals but his vantage point and lens allowed him to get shots of nearly everyone in the room. It had been a good night and he knew that after the entertainment team touched up the photos to blur the faces and sometimes even forms of the serving staff, after all who wants to see pictures of normal people, that the resulting images would be exactly what Kimio was hoping.  
  
After the dinner, of various steaks served rare, fish and seafood prepared as sashimi, poultry skewered and grilled, and pork braised and broiled many of the Weres attending the event shifted into their halfway forms. Akihito had ignored his growling stomach and gotten numerous shots of the changes in action as well as the delighted faces of Japan's elites as they watched.  
  
Now the event was dying down and most of the event goers were donning their shawls and coats and heading for their limos. There were some very small groups holding conversations but only one held any Weres. Luckily Kimio was standing with one. Akihito jogged down the steps and cross the large ballroom pausing to snap several images of Kimio and the large golden eyed raven standing next to her. He paused to take a look at the quality and missed the large man in glasses step up behind him until his camera was snatched from his hands.  
  
"HEY!" Akihito yelled, drawing the attention of the group Kimio was speaking with. Akihito turned red when he realized they were watching him leap after his camera like a child, but damn it the taller man was holding it over his head.  
  
Kimio rushed over and bowed to the man, "I am so sorry Kirishima-san. Aki is substituting for Hirito, who is very ill. He didn't know not to take photos of Asami-sama. We will delete them and I assure you that we know to remove him from any incidental shots of this evening."  
  
The taller man nodded and handed Kimio the camera, "I trust you'll give your stand in photographers better instructions in the future."  
  
Akihito didn't listen to the rest of the larger man's instructions to Kimio instead pulling the camera back to his self and checking it for damage. He swore that should the Megane-san Kimio was being so nice to have hurt his equipment. He continued to mutter under his breath as he turned the camera over and over in his hands.  
  
Asami's sharp ears over heard the ruckus and when Kimio-san left the conversation abruptly he was more interested in what had pulled her away than the Actor in front of him. He barely waited for the man to pause for a breath before he skillfully extracted himself from the conversation. A few steps to his left and a sharp turn around a now empty dinner table brought him to the side of a small blonde bent over a camera and muttering about doing vile things to Kirishima should said camera be damaged. He almost spoke but paused when the delightful smell of Italian wine and sweet pears rose in his nose and for the second time that day they were backed by a chemical he couldn't recognize.  
  
Aki was still muttering when he jerked his head up sharply. He could smell cinnamon under which was the unmistakable musk of a very male, very dominant wolf. The musk was indicative of an alpha. His gaze settled on the bright white of a tuxedo shirt covering the broad chest of the creature in front of him. He followed the pearl buttons up the shirt across smirking lips over a patriarchal nose and found his thoughts scatter as he was captured by the Ōkami's golden eyes.  
  
It couldn't be this easy. That is Asami's first thought as he gazed down into the hazel green eyes of the boy whose younger picture had captivated his thoughts just hours earlier. He was about to say something when the sweet smell of wine turned sour with fear. The boy's eyes widened and before Asami could blink the young blonde was across the ballroom and barreling out the kitchen doors.  
  
The entertainment journalist frowned at her photographer's back and immediately apologized, "I'm so sorry, Asami-sama. Akihito is usually not so rude," she glanced at the swinging doors and frowned. "I really don't know what got into him."  
  
Asami smiled, "It is fine. I did startle him." He glanced at his first and jerked his head to the swinging doors. Kirishima nodded and slipped towards them. Asami distracted the very human woman. She had a crush on one of his pack and knew him and his for what they were. She firmly believed that Humans and Weres could coexist peacefully and she was good for ensuring her paper didn't publish stories that were overly outlandish. It helped that the editor was an uncle.  
  
Asami assured Kimio that he hadn't meant to startle her stand in. He inquired about her regular photographer's health and made note to ensure someone sent a gift to the man. After all his untimely illness had made Asami's job a thousand times easier. He escorted her to her car and caught her hint of worry as she slid into the driver's seat. "What concerns you, Kimio, I promise Kirishima meant no harm."  
  
She looked up, "Oh, I'm not concerned about that, sir. I'm certain once I explain to Aki fully he'll understand. He's a very good boy." She paused then and sighed, "That is actually what I'm worried about. He's just a boy. Hard work and exceptional skill aside, he's without any family and struggles to make it on his own." She glanced at her watch, "I'd planned on taking him back to my place for a late dinner. He's too thin."  
  
Asami would agree. If her missing cameraman was the wolf they were looking for he was significantly too thin. Werewolves were meat eaters and while they wouldn't turn down a good loaf of bread, bowl of noodles, or plate of steaming rice, without meat they wouldn't thrive. Lack of proper protein intake could lead to dreadful consequences including stunted growth, poor circulation, and heart problems. Worse denied very rare, actually near bloody, protein too often and even a werewolf could turn feral.  
  
His phone buzzed twice, but before he could speak with Kirishima he had to assuage the woman in front of him, "I can make sure he's fed and explain the situation if you are willing." He almost smiled when she nodded in relief; instead he continued, "Do you know his address? I'll take him for that late meal you promised him."  
  
"Oh, thank you Asami-sama." Kimio smiled and pulled a piece off her small notebook and wrote down the wayward pup's address. "He lives on the top floor and the stairs are all rusty so be careful."  
  
She passed the paper to him and Asami nodded. "I will be," He stepped back and then smiled, "Oh, in case he hasn't had the opportunity to talk to you yet, Ogata-san has the weekend off, you should call him."  
  
Kimio smiled and nodded before pulling out of the parking garage. Four separate vehicles came to screeching halts as she maneuvered her way into the light traffic. Asami shook his head and pulled out his phone as he strolled to his limo.  
  
Suoh closed the door and took the slip of paper from Asami after settling behind the wheel. He read it and started the limo. Their entrance into the late evening thoroughfare was smooth and silent. Asami called his first back, "Yes, Kirishima?"  
  
"I must apologize, Asami-sama. The boy climbed the side of the hotel and I lost him." Kirishima sounded out of breath. "Oh, and the image is ready for you. It seems the boy that escaped is the same one Shimo Pack is looking for."  
  
"I guessed that when I saw his eyes. Don't worry about having lost him. Kimio gratefully gave us the boy's apartment address." He glanced at Suoh, "In return I gave Ogata the weekend off." Suoh nodded.  
  
"That is relieving sir, but there is one more thing."  
  
"Oh, what?"  
  
"The boy is the same one our men were chasing for the photos of Councilor Satomi."  
  
Asami glanced out at the city moving past his window and chuckled, "Is he now. Well, we'll question him about his source once we catch him. Meet me at this address." Asami gave Kirishima the location and hung up the phone.  
  
He pulled the old photograph out of his pocket and smiled, "You need to learn a lesson about who the Alphas are in this town little pup." 


	4. Scenting a Stray

Akihito wasted no time in clambering up the fire escape of the hotel. He didn't even try to be quiet. When he reached the top he took a second to look down. Glasses rushed out of the kitchen door and glanced around. Aki jerked backwards but the clamor on the fire escape told him that he hadn't been fast enough.   
  
He ran full tilt at across the roof and leapt at the last second. It almost wasn't enough and he barely cleared the side of the building next to hotel. He ended up landing on his shoulder and was forced to roll several times before he slowed enough to come back to his feet. He glanced at the other building and saw the glasses wearing Were standing open mouthed at the edge of the other building. Aki laughed and flipped him off before jogging across the rooftop he was on and leaping again.   
  
He kept to the building tops for nearly three blocks only then did he descend another fire escape and jog to the nearest train station. Luckily they were still running and he hopped on the first one that stopped near him.   
  
He switched trains randomly before bothering to figure out where he was. Luck somehow remained on his side and his last stop ended only a few blocks from his apartment. He jogged there, ran up the stairs and locked the door behind himself. He tossed his camera bag to the couch and grabbed a glass of water before slumping next to it.   
  
After soothing his parched throat he looked around the small room. It wasn't much the bedroom, living room, and kitchen were all one space, part of which he'd sacrificed to set up a darkroom. There was no table beyond the short one in front of the rickety couch and the bathroom was a shower, toilet combo. Yet, it was his. For a year he'd paid the rent and the utilities, he'd scrimped and saved to build the darkroom and only just last week acquired a license and a used scooter.   
  
He sighed. It wasn't fair. He'd stayed out of Werewolf business as much as he could. He hadn't approached or bothered any of the Tokyo packs and he'd ensured that nothing he did or said could be cause for anyone to expect he wasn't exactly who he said he was. So why did the All Mother have to drop him directly in the path of an Alpha? It wasn't fair.   
  
He rose and pulled the large duffel bag out from under the thin mattress and stuffed his clothing two pairs of shoes into it. He didn't have much hardly even a week's work even if you counted the suit, which he shed and stuffed into pack as well. In next went his two cameras, three lenses, all packed in the better of his two camera bags. Last he pulled a large manila folder from a hole in the floorboards under his bed and stuffed it into the top.   
  
He crossed the room and rummaged through the darkroom, pulling down the wall panel and opening the space between the only two apartments on the top floor. Luckily the second was not inhabited as it had the only fire escape. Dressed in only his boxers he quietly crept down the steps and out into the back alley. There he removed his last piece of clothing and stuffed it into the bag and zipped the bag closed.   
  
If there had been anyone in the alley with him they would have thought for a brief moment Akihito looked like two beings. His human form shimmered and his wolf form superimposed itself onto his body before his human form flowed like liquid into the wolf. When the shimmering was done a bright white wolf with silver tipped ears and tail wiggled the strap of the duffel bag over its shoulders before setting off down the street.   
  
Asami and both of his Betas climbed the rickety metal stair case on the outside of the building. It had landings at each of the floors but became more rusted and unstable as they climbed. Asami looked around in disgust the building wasn't just old it was ancient it had clearly been built before the fifties had ended. In truth he was shocked it was still standing.   
  
He glanced at his second and then the building smiling when Kirishima grimaced then nodded. Asami would own the building before the sun came up after which he'd tear it down and build decent low rent housing for the spot. It was unfortunate but the boy wasn't the only were that believed they had to make it on their own. Some were never fit into any pack which severely limited their ability to blend into human society after all most human centric businesses didn't accept the very real need for a were to take nearly three days off every month.   
  
The slowed once they reached the next to top floor climbing the rest of the way quietly and approaching the door near the end of the balcony on silent feet. The top floor was in dire need of repairs. The only door still on its hinges was the boy's and from the state of the rooms they could see beyond the broken ones the place had numerous leaks in the flat roof. They paused and listened at the door. There were no sounds beyond so they were unsurprised when Suoh shoulder open the flimsy boor and found the tiny apartment beyond empty.   
  
Well empty except for the low, threadbare couch and low wooden table in the middle of the room. An old world war two army cot sat under the room's only window, which was broken though someone had taken long strips of clear packing tape and covered the whole thing in a vain attempt to keep it from falling out of its casing. Asami stood near the couch as Suoh opened the curtain separating the tiny bathroom from the rest of the apartment. It was a combined toilet and shower with no sink that not even a baby could have hidden in.   
  
The kitchen was no better. There was no oven or microwave. There wasn't even a decent stovetop. The only place to cook was a hot plate that looked like it was right out of the early sixties which actually went well with the tiny refrigerator from the same time period. Kirishima opened that to find it as empty as the bathroom; there weren't even eggs in it. The one cabinet with a door revealed what the boy must have been surviving on as Asami spied a lone cup of instant ramen. He no longer wondered at the boy's thinness.   
  
Built into the corner of the room opposite the bed on the wall with the apartment's front door was jury-rigged room with what after closer inspection Asami decided was the original door to the now curtained bathroom. Opening it found him looking at a makeshift darkroom. He could smell chemicals stored in the small space and now recognized the smell from earlier as fixer. It was tiny but clearly functional; though, what really drew his eye was the small opening between the apartment they were in and last one on the floor.   
  
Asami sniffed and smiled, the bulk of the apartment had smelled of the little wolf but, the opening was to a long unused room and the boy's scent was much newer than the old mildew infesting the empty apartment beyond. He was just about the crouch and step through the hole when Kirishima spoke. "I wonder how he makes himself smell so human."   
  
The statement made Asami pause and inhaled deeply. His second was correct. Had they not known the boy was the wolf the Shimo Pack was seeking he would have assumed the boy was human from his smell. It was unusual enough that Asami frowned; even lone wolves that succeeded in living among humans retained their musk. No soap or cologne had been found that could cover it up from another Were's senses. Yet this boy not only didn't smell of wolf musk his overriding scent was of the cheap pear shampoo that Asami had seen on the back of the apartment toilet.   
  
He shook his head before pulled off his jacket and shirt, "We can ask him when we catch him. It would be a great thing to be able to descent our youngest members." He shed his pants and handed them to his second saying, "Suoh with me, Kei, return to Sion and track us from there. We shouldn't need help but the boy has proven resourceful. I'd like to keep him this time should we corner him."   
  
Kirishima nodded and collected the clothing that his friend also shed before bowing and exiting the apartment. Two bright glows flashed under the apartment door before two sets of clawed feet sounded on the floor.   
  
Asami put his nose to the floor while he waited for his third to finish shaking himself into his wolf form. He could now smell the underlying fear and sadness the boy had felt as he'd moved around the small space earlier in the night. He could also tell how long it had been since the boy had been in the residence; they were maybe ten minutes behind him. He glanced at his third who nodded when he caught the boy's scent as well.   
  
They both shouldered their way into the next apartment and then out of the window onto the fire escape. They ignored the sloped stairs and leapt over the guardrail. It took only seconds to recapture the scent they were chasing once they reached the alley; both raised their snouts to the sky and howled.   
  
Akihito shivered at the howl that crossed the blocks between his apartment and the alley down which he ran. It was a clear signal to any were that an alpha was hunting and served as a warning to any that crossed his path. The fear he had been trying to ignore since meeting the Alpha surged to the forefront. It caused him to slip and he rounded a corner and he almost brained himself on a brick wall. He glanced around and saw the poorly lighted park that was part of his neighborhood and swiftly crossed the road to it.   
  
The park was filled with shadows and because Akihito had never visited it at night before he was forced to slow down as his peripheral vision caught sight of movement from all sides. The place was full of noises as well. Numerous small nocturnal animals scurried from his presence and had he not been running for what could well be his life he'd have enjoyed chasing the small mice and squirrels.   
  
Still the distractions gave him hope. Perhaps the Alpha following him would lose his scent among the much stronger smells of small prey animals. To encourage this Aki slipped into the small pond at the center of the park and waded through its shallows for several minutes before doubling back and leaving the water less than a mile from where he entered it.   
  
He then ran for all he was worth out of the other side of the park, across the street on its far side and through a small wooded area behind several apartment complexes. He kept running until he reached a small bus depot where he carefully peered around before slipping into his halfway form and entering the men's bathroom.   
  
The clothes in his bag were damp, which he was grateful for considering it had been years since he'd been able to put waterproofing on his duffel. He slipped the clothing on and shoved his feet into his worn tennis shoes before exiting the restroom and crossing the platform. The last bus of the night had just pulled up and he slipped aboard not caring where it was headed.   
  
Once the bus moved he checked his camera bag and was relieved to find them dry and safe. He pulled the manila envelope out and frowned at the wet paper. Luckily the leather wrapped portfolio inside it was barely damp. He tugged on the leather ties binding the package and opened the cover. Inside were several papers and pictures. The largest Akihito checked carefully; it was the only one he had left of his parents.   
  
Once he was certain it was dry and safe he quickly verified the rest of the contents. His parents last will and the deed to their property along with the details of the secret account from which yearly taxes were paid. He still didn't understand how the money in the account was refreshed. Though there were several mentions of yearly stipends sent to the account from the Asami Wolf clan.   
  
Once he was certain the documents were not damaged he placed all the paper back into the special space for it and pulled out the last item the pouch held. It was wrapped in several layers of dark velvet and it took nearly three minutes for Akihito to free it.   
  
Like he had since he'd first seen it at age five Akihito gently trailed his finger across the piece. It was a torc, consisting of twelve strands of twisted metal spilt between iron, copper, silver and gold equally with each end captured by exquisite carvings of wolf heads. The head on the left of the piece was of some black metal and had golden amber for eyes the right wolf was of ivory and tiny green emeralds rested inside the wolf's lids.   
  
When he'd been small his father had told him stories about the white and black wolves whose countenance the heads on the torc were meant to represent and how their family was descended from the daughter of their union. The stories had been filled with adventure and swords and love and pain. Akihito had loved to hear them, but what had fascinated him most was how the ivory wolf's eyes would glow whenever he wore the necklace.   
  
He rewrapped the jewelry and put it back in the leather pouch before retying it and putting it back in the wet manila envelope. His parents had died protecting the objects existence though he still didn't know why the old alpha of the Shimo Pack wanted it. He pulled the only jacket he owned out of the bag and put it on. Then he zipped the bag closed and slung it back over his shoulder.   
  
The driver had announced earlier that it would be five hours before they stopped again, apparently the bus was an overnight to Nagoya. Aki figured he had enough in cash to stay a couple of days then he could return to Tokyo and the Alpha would have forgotten all about him. Though he'd have to give up the money he should have received for his latest scoop; Kimio knew the Alpha he'd have to find another newspaper to work for.   
  
He sighed at how unfair it all was and then bunched his duffel under his head and leaned against it. It had been a really long day and the bus' rocking lulled him quickly to sleep.   
  
Asami lost no time following the stray pup. The boy's fear was palatable on his tongue and made tracking him far too easy. Asami and his second didn't even fall for the boy's attempt to lose them by swimming the small pond. Instead skirting the edge of it until they found where he'd exited. It wasn't hard to follow even his now wet scent across the road and into the now closed bus depot.   
  
It was there that Asami knew they'd not catch his prey that night. The boy had gone into and then exited the depot's restrooms and his scent ended at the edge of the loading zone. He'd hopped a bus and was probably several streets away by the time they'd even reached the place. The dark of night had descended on the now closed location.   
  
Suoh and he jogged back to the park where Suoh transformed far enough to dial a pay phone and request a pick up. Less than ten minutes later saw them both changing back into their suits as an underling drove them back to Sion.   
  
Once there Asami quickly traversed the building and took the lift to his office. Kirishima met him as he exited the lift. Asami glanced at the active tablet in his seconds hands and said, "Report."   
  
Kririshima tapped the screen in his hands before handing the device to Asami, "As you can see sir, the boy boarded the last bus to leave the station. He is carrying a small duffel bag which I can only assume to hold the bulk of his possession." He paused and opened the door to Asami's office and then followed his alpha inside. Suoh followed and closed the door behind them.   
  
"I took the liberty of cleaning out the tiny apartment he had been staying at. All of his things have been packed up and placed in storage. The apartment manager was waiting for me at the bottom of the building hoping I was the boy. Apparently he was two weeks behind on rent."   
  
Asami crossed the office watching the boy as he climbed on the bus. He looked tiered and frightened. The stress on his face made the boy look much younger than fifteen and Asami found himself distressed the boy was not smiling. Worse were the small spurts of guilt over beign part of the reason the boy was so frightened. He poured himself a figner of scotch and swallowed it. "Where is the bus headed?"   
  
"Nagoya, sir. I have already dispatched Ito, Maki, Oshiro, Sato, and Yamada to secure the boy upon his arrival. The jet will land almost three hours before the bus arrives."   
  
Asami nodded, "Tell them not to hurt the boy; we're not his enemies. We just want to figure out what the Shimo Pack wants from him and who tipped him off about the meet up with Councilor Satomi. They are to protect him as much as capture him." He settled behind his desk and glanced down at the tablet again. Apparently he'd paused the video and somehow zoomed on to the boy's face. The fear in the pup's eyes called to him he looked up. "Kasumi, have the team secure him at our hotel there. Kei, I want to be in the air in an hour." 


	5. New Friends

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Finder Series (Viewfinder), is written by, illustrated by, and belongs to Yamane Ayano. I own none of her characters and make no money from this fan fiction.

Aki woke to someone shaking his shoulder. Blurry eyed he looked up; it took several seconds for his brain to piece together why a bus driver would be frowning down at him.  
  
"You ok, young man?" The driver grasped his shoulder, "I'm cool you don't have a pass but I'll be in a lot of trouble if my boss finds you here."  
  
Aki nodded, "Arigatō, I'll get off."  
  
The man nodded and stepped back, "I waited until after parking in the maintenance lot before waking you. Don't want to know why you're running, kid. Just keep the busses between you and the shop until you can climb the back wall and I'll forget you exist."  
  
"Again, Arigatō." Akihito worked his way off the bus as the driver watched and followed the man's advice. He kept the large buses in the small maintenance lot between him and the large tin building with equally large bays and bustling mechanics. Reaching the back wall only took minutes.  
  
He looked across the top of the brick. It was topped with rolling razor wire on all three of the walls he could see. Still he was positive he could make it over them. The wire was attached to narrow metal poles at each corner. He took a long look around the lot ensuing that no one was in range to see what he was about to do and then took a running start directly at the nearest corner. He pushed off the asphalt and then bounced the balls of his feet to and fro between the intersecting walls.  
  
His legs were stronger than a normal human's even weak with hunger like he currently was so reaching the top was not as difficult as the planners of the lot probably believed it would be. Once there he paused only long enough to discern which direction he should land on before placing a hand on the top of the metal pole and using it to balance as he sprung over the wire and the other side of the wall.  
  
He landed in a weedy alley which had two exits. He randomly picked on and headed out into the street, pulling up the attached hood of his jacket to cover his distinctive hair. He walked for several hours. He'd have walked longer but the fact he'd not eaten anything since the instant cup of ramen he'd consumed between his shots at the new Manga shop and his stake out of Councilor Satomi the day before finally caught up to him.  
  
His trek ended with him slumping down on a bench placed just inside the gated walkway of a Shinto shrine. His head hurt and his stomach was making rather obnoxious noises and the hunger had reached the point where all he really wanted to do was curl up and escape the surrounding world. Stupid shifting metabolism, he thought.  
  
He rarely ran as a wolf with last night being only the second time in the two years since his escape from the Shimo Pack. He'd forgotten how fast his already ridiculous metabolism ran when in wolf form. He was going to have to find something to eat and soon. He was mentally counting his meager funds when two things assaulted his senses. The first was the delightful smell of warm meat buns. The second was young masculine laughter.  
  
A shadow suddenly protected his throbbing eyes from the sun and his sight was full of two boys that looked no older than he was. The raven haired, brown eyed one held out a rattan plate covered in a tall pile of pork meat buns. The blond said, "You sound hungry, eat."  
  
It took less than five minutes for Akihito to consume half the plate and slow down the almost ravenous chewing of the meat buns. Akihito exclaiming at their awesome existence the entire time and declaring they must have been made by a five star chef. The raven boy had laughed and promised to tell his mother. The blond had merely smiled.  
  
Akihito introduced himself once the worst of his hunger had been assuaged and found out the raven was Kou and the blonde was Takato. Kou was a member of a small Were-kitsune skulk that managed on of the local Shinto shrines. Takato was his half-human cousin. Aki had frowned at that information. He hadn't known that Weres could mate and produce off spring with humans. It went against everything the Shimo Pack taught.  
  
Though he knew that most of what that group taught and preached to its young was wrong. His own parents had proven that. He wished he knew why they had been hiding in the north. Surly a larger city would have protected them better?  
  
Takato seemed to notice Akihito had been surprised by his half-blood existence. He growled at the stranger, "You got a problem with me not being full Were?"  
  
Aki looked up at the tone finding the boy glaring at him, "I'm sorry, I've just never met….." He trailed off; not certain he wanted to let the boys in front of him know he was Were at all. "Sorry."  
  
The boy called Kou punched Takato's arm, "Hey, don't' be mean. You know what grandfather says. Most humans can't tell us apart from them unless we're in our halfway forms. You can't go getting angry at one when he finally knows one of us."  
  
"I don't like people looking down on my mom. Humans or Were." Takato crossed his arms, "It is none of their business."  
  
Akihito looked appalled at that, "I wasn't looking down on you. I didn't know humans and Were could have children. I really am sorry if you thought I was insulting your mother." He stood up quickly shoving the remaining buns at Kou and bowed really low to Takato. "I would never insult anyone's mom."  
  
"Then why did you look like you swallowed sour milk?" Takato was flustered by the white haired boy's apology, but he refused to back down. His grandfather was always getting on to him about his stubbornness.  
  
Aki stood straight, stammering, "Well… I…I..I was thinking about my dad and mom and…." He trailed off again, "Never mind." He rubbed the back of his neck, "It was stupid, but I promise it wasn't anything about your parents."  
  
Kou punched Takato's arm again, "Don't worry about it. By the way, where are your parents, you get lost?"  
  
"Um, yes, but I'm not here with my parents."  
  
Takato frowned at him, "You're not wearing any school uniform, and you're certainly not from around here." He stared at Aki for several seconds. "You're a runaway."  
  
Kou shook his head, "No way!" he glanced at Aki, "Hey why would you run away? Don't you know what can happen to kids running around on their own?"  
  
Akihito sighed and rubbed his face, "Just how old do you think I am."  
  
It was Takato that answered, "Eight, or maybe you're a short ten years old?"  
  
That had Aki grousing, "I'm fifteen, just how old are you two?!"  
  
Kou shook his head, "Fifteen, you don't look it man." He shoved Takato's shoulder, "He's fifteen!"  
  
Takato shoved his cousin back, "So he says." He looked at Akihito doubtfully, "Kou will be sixteen in December. I'll be sixteen next White Day."  
  
Akihito nodded, "Well I'll be sixteen come the beginning of next May."  
  
"That still doesn't tell us why you're lying on the shrine's bench half-starved in the middle of the morning."  
  
Aki could tell the blonde boy didn't really believe he was fifteen, but Aki was used to that, though being mistaken for only eight was new. "So, I got lost after getting off the bus."  
  
The raven haired boy shook with laughter again, "He's lost!"  
  
Aki shifted his bag on his shoulder and turned red, "Yeah, well thank you for the buns." He brushed past the laughing raven while ignoring the studied expression on the blonde. "Sorry, I took your bench."  
  
Three things happened at once. Akihito's stomach growled again and was joined by the world spinning as Aki growled at his stupidity in his own mind. The few meat buns were nowhere near enough food after his shift and run the previous eve. He tripped over his own feet and started tumbling. The raven grabbed his arm, "Hey man, sorry for laughing don't go."  
  
The raven's hold on his arm prevented Aki from tumbling to the ground; it did nothing for the blackness that swamped his senses.  
  
Five ōkami stood at stiff attention as their Alpha stood staring out the penthouse suite of the Mitsui Garden Hotel. He'd said little as they reported that though they'd waited for nearly five hours after the bus arrived no young men fitting the boy's description had exited with either the bus or the terminal. It was with faint hearts that they bowed and left when Asami flicked his hand towards the door.  
  
Suoh frowned at them as they left disappointed they'd allowed one small boy to slip past them. Still the boy was proving resourceful and Suoh wondered if he could take some of what the boy knew and train their own teens and pups. Were creatures had equal rights under the law but the unscrupulous had no issue taking an unwary pup. So far their pack had been lucky. It helped that their Alpha stressed that older pack members were responsible for protecting and caring for the younger. Other packs in Japan hadn't been so lucky. Sakazaki's group was especially vulnerable since the Alpha put more stock in members that could help make him money than anything else.  
  
Mostly though Suoh hated the look his Alpha had been carrying around since the wolf had seen the deplorable conditions the boy had been living in. What could the Shimo Pack have done to drive a young pup to live like that rather than even seeking out another pack?  
  
Suoh shook himself out of his musing when his Alpha spoke Kei's name. He listened closely as their second was instructed to do another sweep of the bus terminal. He was to check all the security cameras and ensure that none had been tampered with and watch all of the footage. Also he was to find out if the bus had made any stops along the route. Perhaps the driver had needed a break or there was a scheduled stop for some to disembark before they reached the main terminal? Suoh bowed and left with Kirishima still pondering young pups left alone.  
  
Akihito woke to a song. A young voice was singing outside the room he lay in. He opened his eyes and found he was tucked between warm blankets on top of a thick futon. The room around him was very traditional with bamboo walls, rice paper doors and six tatami mats on the floor. He was positioned against the outside wall under a rice paper covered window. Filtered light streamed into the room and made dancing patterns on the mats.  
  
The song grew louder then it softened as it passed by the window a few moments later it came from the other direction and then softened again. It took three passes before Akihito decided that the singer was probably cleaning the wooden walkway that surrounded the traditional home. That still didn't tell him where he was.  
  
He pushed the blankets from his shoulders and sat up. He was dressed in a loose robe and boxer briefs that were too large on his bony frame. He was looking about the room in hopes of seeing his duffel bag when the screen door slid open.  
  
An old woman knelt on the other side; she quietly picked up a tray covered in dishes, one of which Akihito's nose told him was at the very least miso soup, and set it inside. She then rose and entered the room carefully kneeling to close the door before picking up the tray and bringing it closer to the boy.  
  
She smiled when she saw he was sitting up, "You are awake, young man." She knelt and put the tray across his lap. "Eat, I could hear your stomach from across the house.  
  
As if on cue his guts started growling, though Aki couldn't really blame them the food smelled delicious. He smiled at the old woman, picked up his chopsticks and said, "Itadakimasu" before digging into the bowl of rice. The woman pulled the lids from the few covered dishes which were revealed to be piles of seaweed salad, two grilled fish, and mix of stir fried vegetables. The soup was indeed Miso.  
  
There was to Akihito's knowledge an overabundance of the servings, but he ate it all. For the first time since he'd left his parent's house he actually felt full. It was novel enough that he thanked his hostess while stressing how good the food had tasted.  
  
The older woman laughed, "My mother always said that hunger was the best seasoning, but I thank you for the complement. Now if you feel up to it the bath is just down the hall." She gestured to the west, "and your clothes are still in your duffel sitting in the small changing room just outside it."  
  
She rose with the tray and crossed back to the screen door, "It is the middle of the day now so you can soak as long as you like." She knelt and opened the door picking up and placing the now mostly empty tray back outside. "It is a treat not many in the house receive since there are around twenty of us sharing the facilities." She rose, went out the door and smiled before closing it, "I will send one of my grandsons to check on you after a bit."  
  
Akihito shook his head. He wasn't certain what was going on but the woman had been nice enough and he really did feel the need for a bath. He stood and being contentious folded the blankets and rolled up the futon. It only took looking through the only other sliding screen in the room to find the long closet where the bedding was kept. He placed the items neatly in the only open slot and shut the closet doors.  
  
Then he crossed the room and exited into the hallway. The bath was only three doors down the hall. It took up the entire end of the building and had four shower stalls and a large soaking tub. The water was already in the tub and clearly kept warm by the gas fire that ran lowly under the raised stone flooring. It was a relatively modern upgrade in what was clearly the original wooden fire pit.  
  
He was sore. Muscles he'd forgotten got used when shifted had made themselves known as he worked his way down the hall. The tub looked to be heaven sent. He made quick, though thorough work of cleaning his self. He groaned when he lowered his body into the steaming water of the soaking tub.  
  
He didn't know how long he stretched out in it, allowing the heat to seep into his tired body but sooner than he'd like there was a rap on the screen and it slid open. The raven haired boy peeked inside smiling when he saw Akihito stretched out in the tub. "Oh man, you've got it good. Takato and I have to share that with three others when we bathe."  
  
Aki blushed and started to get out. "Sorry, I probably shouldn't be using so much of your family's gas."  
  
The raven waved a hand at him, "No, stay. Grandpa says you could probably use the soak."  
  
The boy puttered around the room washing the stool Aki had used and putting away the other items he'd borrowed. Then Kou looked back at him, "Are you really ōkami?"  
  
Akihito stood so quickly he knocked a good bit of water out of the tub. It sloshed onto the floor and briefly made the gas fire sputter. He blushed but stepped out and grabbed the towel that had been left out and started drying himself off, "Sorry, I've probably overstayed my welcome."  
  
He didn't even pause as he slid open the door and stepped into the hallway and then into the small room where he'd seen his duffel as he looked for the bath. He ignored Kou who had followed him to the changing room as he pulled out underwear and ripped jeans. He slipped them on almost as one and yanked out a graphic tee. He didn't try to dry his hair. He was stuffing the other things that had tumbled out of the bag back into it when he realized he was missing something. He scrambled to search the bag. Surely it had just gotten buried. It was in here; he knew it had to be.  
  
"Are you looking for this?"  
  
Akihito turned and gasped when he saw an old man holding the leather pouch containing the only things left of his parents. He stood quickly and held out his hand, "That's mine, give it back."  
  
The old man nodded, "Indeed, it was in your possession. However, I will need to validate your ownership before I return it. You are a runaway and possibly a thief. It would not due to return such valuable items to a robber."  
  
Akihito hadn't cried when his parent's died. Mainly because for the first three days he'd assumed they were coming back. He'd thought they were on a pack hunt until he'd overheard the Shimo Pack Beta talking about how good his mother's meat would taste. He didn't cry at that news either; he'd been too busy packing for and planning his escape. It had been the only thing his parents had made him promise when they'd moved into the Shimo Pack's territory. Should something happen to them he was to flee. He was to waste no time trying to secure their bodies or bury them.  
  
So he had. He'd overheard the Beta as he'd returned from pumping water at the village's one well. It had been early morning and the winter snow was still falling thickly muffling nearly all noise. He'd been passing the village smoke house when he'd heard the comment. Fear had kept his screams inside him and he'd used the utter terror to quicken his steps from the center of town to the small government built house his family had lived in since they'd moved to the village when he was seven.  
  
It had taken hardly an hour to gather and pack the few special items he'd taken with him. His father's cameras, the most recent picture of his parents, and the leather pouch now held by a stranger were pulled and added to the large black backpack his father had always kept packed and secreted under the floorboards of his small twin bed. Then he'd spent the day like he'd done any other. He did his homework, walked in the center of town and returned a book to the small library, and stopped to chat with the old woman that lived nearest them. He'd assured her that he was fine until his parents returned from their hunt and that yes he was looking forward to the deer meat they would bring back with them for the village.  
  
He hadn't cried once. Nor did he cry when he snuck out of the small house just after the midnight hour. The village guards changed shift at that time meeting in the village center to exchange information before traveling back out to their posts. Aki had kept his tears inside as he'd crept past the stations and hurried down the deer trail leading north.  
  
Not a tear escaped in the days that followed as he moved south across the large Hokkaidō island, nor did one get released as he sold one of his father's lenses so he could board the ferry and reach the mainland. In truth in the two years since their deaths his eyes had stayed dry, there had always been something more important than his tears.  
  
So it was with surprise that seeing someone other than his self hold his mother's greatest treasure caused him to burst into tears. He begged as he stumbled towards the old man, "Please, it was my mother's it is all I have left of her."  
  
The old man's eyes soften as Akihito reached him and he wordlessly handed the pouch to him. Aki reached inside to check on his parent's picture, but his hand collided with the Torc instead. It was unwrapped. Bright green light flashed as his fingers brushed it. Aki had been looking down into the pouch and the light momentarily blinded him. When he looked up the old man was on his knees whispering 'kōshitsu' repeatedly.  
  
It was Oshiro that actually found the boy. He'd been so disappointed in himself for allowing his Alpha's prey to escape that he'd gone back to the bus terminal rather than joining his fellow guards in the rooms acquired for them at the hotel. At first he'd found nothing new. Then he'd checked the bus identification numbers for all the inbound and outbound routes that would have been in the terminal at the time the boy should have arrived.  
  
He found that while there were three the boy could have boarded to move further south without leaving the terminal it was unlikely that he had done so considering it would have required him to sit in the terminal for no less than ten minutes before the earliest one would have left. He knows that there were no blondes in the building at that time.  
  
He decided to chat with the drivers and after a bit of searching found the driver of the bus that had come in from Tokyo that morning was off until his bus had finished its maintenance cycle. The driver was older and unmarried and Oshiro found the man at an izakaya just up from the terminal.  
  
He piled the man with drinks and soon learned that the driver had known the boy was a stowaway. He'd felt sorry for the boy who had looked so very frightened as he'd snuck aboard while the man had been busy helping an older lady get her bags stowed for the trip. So, when they'd arrived at the terminal he'd waited to wake the boy until after he'd taken his bus back to the maintenance lot.  
  
Oshiro didn't wait to hear anything more. He went back to the hotel and informed Kirishima and Suoh of what he'd learned. Then he had stayed and watched the lot's security cameras. He was the only one of them that noticed the odd shadow moving through the lot behind the buses. He was also the only one that caught the boy springing up the wall and over the barbed wire.  
  
After receiving permission he took his team out to the alley and searched from there. Remembering the boy had been very frightened but calm when he'd snuck aboard the bus he split the team instructing them to move in as straight a line as they could asking about the boy along the way. It was unlikely he'd make many turns initially wanting to be able to put as much distance as he could between the terminal and himself before searching for food or housing.  
  
The walk was long but several hours into it he came across a group of young teenagers gossiping at the entrance to a Shinto shrine. The young girls in the group were talking about the white blonde haired boy their cousin's had picked up the previous afternoon and how cute he'd been. Oshiro quickly pulled off his jacket, transferring his phone and wallet into his pants pockets and shoving his guns at Sato who had remained with him as the other three went diffrent directions, "Here hold these. I'll be right back."  
  
He ran his fingers through his hair messing it up and hunched forward slightly to make himself look tired and followed the small group up the tori lined path. At the top the path opened to a large shrine. At the front three teens were sweeping the stone paved front yard. Two were dressed in high school seifuku. The third was wearing ripped jeans and a printed green shirt with what Oshiro knew was all the evolutions of Bulbasaur.  
  
He crossed the yard with purpose and tossed several coins into the shrine's box before clapping his hands and saying a short prayer. He was lucky to hear the blonde boy in the school uniform call the white haired boy Akihito and ask him if he'd thought of trying to go back to school. Oshiro didn't wait for an answer and strolled back out of the shrine.  
  
He only waited until he was certain he was out of earshot of the teens before dialing Suoh, "Sir, I've found him." 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Some words you might not know:  
> torii - Red gates over shinto Shrine paths  
> seifuku - name of Japanese school uniforms  
> tennō(天皇, "heavenly sovereign")  
> kōshitsu (皇室, imperial concubine)


	6. Defining Ones Prey

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> If you are reading this and have not yet read chapter five which was only posted one day earlier. You are missing an entire chapter. :-)  
> Like always the Finder Series (Viewfinder), is written by, illustrated by, and belongs to Yamane Ayano. I own none of her characters and make no money from this fan fiction.

Kazumi was standing with Kei reviewing the security of Sion and its clubs and businesses. Normal items the three men covered in their Friday morning meetings and covered now because of the 'guest' they'll be hosting for the next unknown amount of time. Asami decided he wanted a review and upgrades while the 'visitor' was in his city.  
  
Suoh was showing his Alpha the new procedures he'd designed for the pack guards and runners to follow for all future meetings with government contacts when he received the call from Oshiro. The interruption caused by his phone ringing would normally be ignored except that his Alpha was waiting on the news. Asami asked the report be broadcast over the speaker.  
  
Kei took the guard's location and immediately researched the shrine and the surrounding area. By the time Oshiro had run through a quick but through report on where he'd found the boy, he'd pulled the most important information and had sent additional inquiries to his staff to follow up on.  
  
Asami instructed Oshiro to pull his team to the shrine and watch all the possible exits. They were not to allow the boy to leave their sight this time. He nodded to Kazumi to disconnect the call and turned to Kei with a questioning look.  
  
His second stood straighter before saying, "The shrine is over seen by a small local skulk. The family has maintained the location for nearly thirty generations. Nagata Kenta is the current skulk Alpha his son and daughter are his Betas." He glanced down at the tablet again. "They are an open skulk in their small community but not to Nagoya or the rest of Japan." He scrolled through the rest of the information before finishing with, "He's reported to be very protective of young Were. He was part of the rehoming group for Were-kitsune that lost their skulks in the 2011 earthquake and subsequent tsunami."  
  
Asami nodded, "Then it is unlikely he'll harm the boy." Asami turned and looked back out the windows across Nagoya. Kei and Kazumi just stood silently. Their Alpha had done this significantly more than normal since the first meeting with the Shimo Pack Beta.  
  
Akihito had never had friends his own age. Before moving to Hokkaidō and joining the Shimo Pack, he and his parents had lived on a sprawling horse farm kilometers from the nearest village. He could vaguely remember that they'd had a helicopter pad which would bring them seafood on dry ice and fruit from far away places that his mother had enjoyed. He still wasn't certain why he could remember that but little else about the land and house.  
  
There had not been many children in the Shimo Pack. Apparently few survived the harsh winters and there were not many females in the pack. The Shimo Alpha had said that was the reason there was no school in the village, Aki remembers his parents saying it was really to keep the rest of the pack ignorant and dependent on the Alpha and his Betas. The town library held only a handful of books and there was no internet or even electricity to most of the buildings.  
  
At first Aki had hoped the lack of a school and modern conveniences would convince his parents to move to another location, but instead they taught him themselves. Where his mother got the new text and workbooks he was never certain. The box they would arrive in each year never had a return address.  
  
The fact they lived nearly outside the village's official perimeter meant few visitors to their small house and whenever outsiders did visit the village his parents had ensured Akihito was always kept busy inside. In fat when government officials visited he was often sent down into the house's root cellar where he was supposed to inventory the contents. Something he never understood since they maintained a rolling inventory every time they used or added vegetables.  
  
Regardless of reasons it had all meant he had no friends. So, the rather sudden and forced friendship by the exuberant Kou and his reluctant cousin was frankly over whelming.  
  
After getting his pouch back from Kou's grandfather and the strange reactions the man had to his mother's torc, the two boys had wrangled him into helping with their chores. Akihito didn't mind helping. The family had given him a place to sleep and fed him the best meal he'd gotten since the last time Kimio had fed him hot pot at her apartment. The least Aki could do was a few simple chores.  
  
The two boys had asked him about his shirt and been dumb founded when they learned he didn't know what the creatures on the front were. He'd blushed when he'd confessed he'd found it at the thrift store he got most of his clothes from in Tokyo. Freelance photography didn't pay well or consistently and most of the funds went to keeping a roof over his head. The Pokémon shirt had cost him fifty yen less than the instant noodles he bought to eat.  
  
Kou hadn't even laughed at his explanation. Instead as soon as they'd finished hanging the day's laundry and sweeping the front walk he'd dragged Akihito into the room he shared with Takato and three younger cousins. It was only four tatami mats in size but organized like a western game room.  
  
Along the wall to the right of the sliding screen was a large screen TV on a low cabinet; several gaming consoles were attached to the TV. Opposite this was a low table surrounded by zabuton and covered in controllers. Takato sighed behind them as Kou pulled Aki into the small room, "The little ones didn't put anything away, again."  
  
Kou laughed, "We never did either when we were their age. Come on, we can have this stuff put up in a jiffy and then show Aki the second most awesome game in history!"  
  
Akihito was not unfamiliar with electronic gaming. He'd been in enough shops and electronic stores for parts for his father's cameras that he'd seen and even played demos on most of the equipment in the small room. However, he'd never owned on or gotten to play more than a few moments before someone else came up for a turn. He'd even gotten to use a demo of the 3DS that Kou pulled from a drawer in the low cabinet.  
  
Takato gathered the controllers strewn about the low seating area and placed them in the other drawer of the TV cabinet. "If Pokémon is the second best game, what is the first?"  
  
Kou looked up from where he was digging through the drawer. Shock and a little horror shone from his wide eyes and he gapped like a fish for several seconds before replying, "What do you mean what is the first, most awesome game in history?" He huffed, "It is Assassin Creed of course." He shook his head in disbelief.  
  
Takato grinned, "Of course. We'll have to wait until after the little ones are in bed tonight to show him that one though. You know we're not allowed to play it while they are up."  
  
"That's ok; I'm going to show him Pokémon first." Kou continued to rummage through the drawer before raising his hand and grinning in triumph. "Here it is!" In his hand he held a white square plastic box. There was a thin piece of clear plastic wrapped around the box that Akihito knew was the location the game's insert was supposed to be.  
  
Kou turned around and plopped down on a zabuton and started up the 3DS in his hands, "Give me a few minutes to move all my Pokémon to my bank and then I'll start you up."  
  
Akihito had no idea what the young man was talking about and was ever so glad when Takato explained, "He's got a subscription that allows him to put certain pieces of game data onto an external server rather than stored on the game disk. This means he can pull the characters into a different game if they are compatible."  
  
It still made little sense to Aki, but he figured it was the same as when his editor pulled pictures off his camera so he didn't ask any questions. Takato left and returned with three canned sodas. He sat them on the table and then rummaged through the drawer Kou got his 3ds from. Takato pulled two other devices that looked similar to Kou's and brought them to the table along with two other white boxes. One claimed to be 'Pokémon X' the other 'Pokémon Y'.  
  
He pulled a game out of one of the devices he had and frowned at it, "That's where my 'Super Mario 3d Land' went." He sat it on the table and pulled out the 'Pokémon X' game and inserted it into the device before looking up, "Kou is an avid fan of the game. I only started playing with 'X' last year." We've got extra DSes and Kou took out his copy of 'X' for you so I figured he and I would battle each other while you learn to play."  
  
Aki nodded, "Ok, thanks for sharing."  
  
Kou looked up then, "No prob, man. It is worth giving up my copy of 'X' for you to learn about my second favorite franchise!"  
  
"Wait, what, give up?" Kou was ejecting the game from his red DS and taking the offered blue one from Takato as Akihito protested, "I can't take a game from you. I don't know how long I'll be here and I don't own any of the equipment anyway."  
  
Takato laughed, "Don't worry about it. Kou's restarted this one at least four times now. He's beaten it and collected them all; he won't miss it." He nodded at the blue device in his hands, "besides we've both got extra DSes since we upgraded to the 3DSxls."  
  
Akihito finally nodded and looked down at the device in his hands. He'd always been fascinated with video games and had hung out at the electronic shops just so he could ogle them or play their demos whenever he had free time. He'd never thought he actually hold and play a game from the start.  
  
Kou walked him through the buttons on the device and then explained a little bit about the stylus and the camera and the internet connectivity. He then showed Akihito how to reset the game. Once that was done he sat back and started up his own DS.  
  
Aki spent several minutes trying to decide on a name and what he wanted his character to look like then he used the small area outside the house to practice with the controls and figure out how to talk to people before he walked his character to the next area. He groused when the other characters in the game wanted to give his a nickname causing Takato to laugh, "I agree. I hate that part. I'm glad they don't do it in the next generation."  
  
Akihito didn't comment since he didn't know what Takato was talking about. He finally decided to choose his own nickname and just entered his character's name again. He got to the point where he was supposed to pick his first Pokémon. He looked up asking, "So which one should I choose?"  
  
Takato replied, "Whichever one you like, I always start with grass types. Kou always starts with fire types in his first run through, though he always resets and gets each starter at some point."  
  
Kou nodded his head, "I find fire easier to play with in new games, but I don't really have a favorite starter in any of the games."  
  
Aki nodded and looked at all three of the starters again. Chespin just looked strange to him, though that was probably on purpose. He finds Fennekin is cute but he's already a wolf and the idea of keeping even a fox as a pet feels too strange to him. So, he clicks accept on the Froakie. The game offers to let him name the creature and once again he finds himself stuck. He has no luck with naming things.  
  
Kou looked over and seeing his new friend just starting at the screen decided he should check he's not stuck. He leaned over and glanced at where Aki was in the game and smiled, "Ooo, you got a female starter that's rare. What are you going to name her?"  
  
Akihito looked at Kou, "how do you know it is female?"  
  
Kou pointed to the red symbol next to the spot for the name, "This means female, it will be blue and shaped differently if it is for a male."  
  
"Oh, well that helps; I'd hate to name a girl with a boy's name." He looked at Kou, "How do you pick names?"  
  
The boy shrugged, "I generally don't name my Pokémon." He pointed at Takato, "He names all of his though."  
  
Takato looked up from his system and shrugged, "I name them after people I know. Typically my starter gets Kou's name. Since in the game the starter is your best friend and that's what Kou is to me."  
  
"Awe, buddy, I didn't know that!" Kou leans over the table and gives Takato a noogie on top of his head, "You're my best friend, too."  
  
Akihito smiles at the two of them. Strangely he doesn't feel left out by the statement. He nods to Takato and looks back down at the game, "My best friend huh?" He takes out the stylus and uses it to input the name he's chosen. 'Kiko' soon graced his party and he was running through the next scene.  
  
When the battle between his character and Shauna he frowned again. The time it was Takato that saw it, "Something wrong?"  
  
"I don't know. Kiko is sparkely." He turned his device to the blonde and showed him the screen.  
  
Kou snapped his head up, "He got a shiny!" he leaned over and then squealed, "He did!!" He looked at Aki, "Man you have all the luck, a shiny, female Froakie on your first try!"  
  
Aki blushed, "Is that a good thing?"  
  
"Good?!?!" Kou punched his arm, "Man it's totally amazing! I had to hatch 1,343 eggs before I got a shiny one and it was male!"  
  
Takato smiled at Aki, "Shinies are rare, different colored Pokémon. It doesn't affect their abilities. It is like me having blonde hair and Kou having brown. The only thing special about them is that the game is set up to only give you a 1 in 4,096 chance."  
  
"Oh," Aki looked at Kou, "maybe I should save before I fight and let you move this to your bank?"  
  
Kou burst into laughter and Takato punched his arm. It must have been really hard because Kou stopped laughing and rubbed his arm while glaring at Takato. Takato glared back, "Stop laughing. You didn't tell him how saves worked so of course he doesn't know!" Takato turned back to Aki, "You can't save until after this battle; don't worry about losing just use your water attack and your guaranteed to win."  
  
Kou spoke up then, "Not that it matters, your Pokémon can't die. The worst that can happen is they all faint and you have to take them to a Poké Center to heal them up."  
  
Aki blushed, "Oh, ok." He glanced down at the game then back up at Kou, "Still I think you should take it when this fight is done. It is your game."  
  
Kou shook his head, "Nope, I gave it to you and I want you to keep it. I had the same chance you did to get a shiny at the start, why would I take it back just because you were luckier than me?" he snorted, "That would just be mean."  
  
Akihito blushed further and Kou turned to Takato, "Have you picked your team yet? I'm ready to go!"  
  
Takato nodded, "I'm ready to kick your butt, if that is what you're asking."  
  
The two older boys settled into their match and Akihito went back to exploring the work of Pokémon. They spent the rest of the afternoon at the games until Kou's mother called the three of them down for dinner.  
  
Asami had some serious thinking to do and it wasn't getting done as he kept rewinding and re-watching the scene at the bus terminal in Tokyo. He would pause each time the camera showed the boy's face and each time he'd feel his guts squirm in remorse that he was at least partially responsible for the boy's fear. Thus the dismissal of his Betas and the deep read of the information Kei has gathered about the Shimo Pack.  
  
If the public records were to be believed then the boy didn't even exist. There had been nine population studies done by the Japanese government around the tribes and Packs that lived in the far northern portion of Hokkaidō. Each one had taken finger prints and created birth certificates each time when new citizens were discovered. In not one did the Masakado couple who joined the population records a little over seven years ago have children.  
  
The couple was described in records as being of Yamato decent which in itself was strange considering that the Shimo Pack was distinctly Ainu. When one considered the pack's insular nature one had to question how the Masakados even gain entry onto the Shimo pack's land. Then there was the oddity of the fact that both of the Masakado were clearly of deep Yamato roots. Both had straight black hair, both had the distinctively tilted eye shape and their dark eye color. So, if the Masakados had a son, where did he get his hair and eye color from?  
  
Then there was the disturbing aggressive nature of the Shimo Pack's search for the young boy. It made Asami far too uncomfortable to give them the pup's location. Yet, he couldn't just let the boy roam free either. First he still needed to know how the boy knew about the meet up with Councilor Satomi and if the boy or the leak knows the Councilor is a Were. Second it went against everything he'd been taught as an Alpha to allow any wolf he knew to live int eh conditions he'd found at the boy's apartment. Mainly because it was dangerous to the pup and the human's around him, but also because his grandfather would probably flay him alive if he didn't at least try to help.  
  
However, neither of those reasons are what prevented him from just going to the shrine, cornering the boy, and forcing him to join his pack. No, even though his instincts told him he needed to claim this one he was reluctant to do so by force. The last thing he wanted was the strange feelings that twisted his gut each time he watched the boy's frighten face board the bus. Which left him with the question that started this all; what do you do with a pup that clearly doesn't want to be found but has already been?  
  
A knock at his hotel door shook him from his thoughts. He called out for them to enter knowing that the guards at the door wouldn't allow anyone to even knock that had not already been cleared by Kei or Kazumi. He turned from his tablet and found it was actually his Betas. He gestured them closer asking, "Found something new?"  
  
Kirishima nodded, "Yes, or well we didn't find it, it was brought to us." He handed over several printed sheets of paper. They were old fashioned photo copies and curled when Asami tried to switch between them.  
  
He read bits and pieces of each document his eyes widening and then scrunching as he read more and more. Finally he looked up, "Have you read these?" his voice was tight and filled with what his Betas could only assume was anger. At whom they weren't certain.  
  
Kirishima nodded slowly, unsure if his answer would relieve or irritate the Alpha, "Yes, Asami-sama, I have read them in detail. I believe the person that sent them to us read them also. His messages have implied he wishes to meet with you."  
  
Asami looked down at the papers in his hands, "I will need to place a call first. I have questions and I don't expect you to ask them."  
  
Kirishima bowed of course, "I will have lunch sent up while you discuss this with your father." He and Kazumi went to leave.  
  
"Wait." Asami looked at the papers again, "If even a piece of this is true then…"  
  
Suoh interrupted, "I've already taken care of it sir; I sent additional men to report to Oshiro. No one we can't identify will enter or exit the Shrine until you are ready."  
  
Asami nodded then and turned back to the desk. He picked up his android and scanned his retina. His tech people had long moved past facial recognition. Once done he pressed his index finger to the screen and entered his pass code. It took him only seconds to complete the steps; however, the complicated procedures made his personal devices over ninety-nine percent secure. He took a deep breath and dialed his father.  
  
The old wolf answered on the third ring, "Ryuichi, my boy, how goes being the Pack Alpha?"  
  
"Did you enter me into an arranged marriage?"  
  
His father faltered with the answer, "Oh, um, well…"  
  
"Were you aware at the time that the child was going to be male?"  
  
"Now, Ryu…"  
  
"Just when were you going to inform me that I had a spouse? Or that it was a child? Was I ever even going to be told or were you planning on just depositing the boy at my penthouse door one day?" Asami took a deep breath, "How was this even legal? According to the papers he hadn't even been born yet!"  
  
"Don't take that tone with your Father, Ryuichi." It was his grandfather's voice that replied. "Now, I'm not certain how you found out about your father's and my arrangement with the Takabas, but you can just take a deep breath and calm down. You're not married anymore. The Takaba's were lost in a house fire nearly eight years ago their bodies were almost too burned to identify. We couldn't even use dental records."  
  
Asami interrupted, "Then how do you know none of them survived?"  
  
"Oh, their grounds keeper Masakado Daichi said their wedding rings were on the bodies. The babe was wrapped in its mother's arms. It was tragic the Takabas were good friends."  
  
"Is it possible Masakado lied?"  
  
His grandfather paused with a breath, "He was utterly loyal to them; a 40th generation Beta of their pack. What possible reason would he have in lying about their deaths? The lands still comes to us on what would have been Akihito's sixteenth birthday just as the stipend has been paid for its upkeep every year regardless."  
  
Asami looked across the view his suite gave him before answering, "Because I think I've found the child and the Shimo pack is hunting the boy."  
  
"You need to claim him and soon. Don't let that backwards pack from the north take your birth right boy." His grandfather huffed, "Get the boy and protect him, mate with him, but whatever you do don't let anyone else lay with him."  
  
"Why?"  
  
"Because the Takaba bloodline is the only one capable of producing Omegas."  
  
Asami snapped in the phone, "What?!", but there was a dial tone answering him. His grandfather had hung up on him. He was so shocked it took him a moment to think to try and call the man back. By the time he did he found a text message telling him that his father and grandfather were heading back from their visit to the Arbatovs early and would phone Kirishima once they knew when they'd land.  
  
Asami's head started to pound and he chooses to text his Betas rather than call them back into the room. When they joined him he asked, "Who sent us this information?"  
  
"Nagata Kenta, sir. He would like to know if you would join his family for the evening meal." Kirishima looked down at his tablet. "He said to tell you they only do casual, but that the food is five star quality, if one is to believe his current guest."  
  
"How did he even know we were here?"  
  
"I told him sir; after he emailed me wanting to know if the Asami Pack was still aligned with the Takabas. I told him that to my knowledge we were but that the Takabas had died out. He said that my Alpha should visit as soon as he was able." Kirishima frowned, "I then told him we were in Nagoya on business and would tonight be too soon. He sent the package over after saying it wasn't and asking where he could send the formal invitation."  
  
"Did you know I was married before reading the package?" Asami's irritation at the situation was palatable.  
  
Kirishima squirmed, "No, sir. I was only aware that you were to sign over a specific amount from your personal accounts to the Takaba estates each quarter. You signed the check without asking so I assumed you knew why. I thought you were buying the property from them slowly so that the remainder of their pack could live out their lives there. Other than the Alpha and his mate they haven't had any children in nearly forty years."  
  
"I never understood that they were that insular. The quarterly stipend was agreed on by my grandfather before it was even certain I'd become the Asami Pack Alpha." He looked through the papers again and spent several minutes reading the marriage contract in full before tossing the entire pile on to the desk. "They married me off to the first born grandchild of the Takaba Alpha of the time. They even wrote clauses about how the agreement would play out if no grandchild was born or if I or it should die before we mated."  
  
He sighed and sat, "they even announced it in the Were news. I was three years old!" he felt a sudden need to smash something. "What were those old wolves thinking?"  
  
"That perhaps it would be best for the two oldest Packs in Japan to unite since one was thriving and the other was slowly dying out?" Kazumi's voice was low but it did reach his Alpha.  
  
"That is probably correct, I should have thought of that." He sat and looked at his men, "So, having never been married before I am open to suggestions on how to bring the lucky boy into our pack without frightening him to death."  
  
"Perhaps a quiet dinner with friends?" Kazumi smiled as he suggested it. 


	7. Meetings and Revelations

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> If you are reading this and have not read chapters 5 or 6 then you are missing at least one if not two additional chapters. :-)  
> The Finder Series (Viewfinder), is written by, illustrated by, and belongs to Yamane Ayano. I own none of her characters and make no money from this fan fiction.

Kou's grandmother called them down for dinner. She stopped them before they reached the main hall though and told them all to go bathe. "You did a lot of sweaty work this afternoon. Go clean up. We have guests."  
  
So Kou and Takato grabbed some clean clothing and joined Akihito in the bath. There was some good natured ribbing of Aki's height, a noogie completion on Kou's head in retaliation, and numerous jokes. They still quickly finished the task and dried and changed into the clean clothes in less than twenty minutes.  
  
Aki put on the only pair of non-dress socks he had and the least torn pair of jeans. He found his dress shirt washed and folded with the rest of his clothes but had already learned that his dress pants had a tear in the leg. If he was going to wear torn pants he'd figured he'd at least wear some that could be passed off as fashion. He ran his fingers through his hair. HE stepped out and ran into Kou's grand-mother.  
  
She smiled and reached out with a comb and ran it through his hair, "I suspect your mother was constantly trying to comb it into some semblance of order, wasn't she?"  
  
Aki nodded, "Yes, Obaasan." He smiled with memory, "She use to sit me down after breakfast every morning and run a comb and a brush through it. She swore it grew this way just to torment her." He glanced at the old woman, "Thank you."  
  
Kou's grandmother shook her head, "It isn't anything I don't do for my own grandsons."  
  
Akihito blushed and stammered out, "Not for fixing my hair, for…." He suddenly realized he didn't know how to explain what he was thankful for without sounding stupid or admitting he no longer had parents. He rubbed the back of his head and looked at the floor, "Never mind."  
  
The old woman smiled and removed his hand from his hair, "Now stop that and stand up straight, you've nothing to be ashamed of and your fussing has messed up your hair again." She ran the comb through it a second time and straightened up the collar on his shirt. Then she frowned, "Where is your beautiful neck piece?"  
  
Aki shook his head, "My parents stop letting me wear it when we moved. Well except on my birthday which isn't until next May, so I've got it wrapped up in my bag."  
  
"Well I would be very honored if you would wear it tonight."  
  
The old woman looked at him with her gentle smile and all Akihito could think of was how nice the whole family had been since Kou and Takato had found him on the Shrine stairs. He suddenly couldn't turn her down and nodded. He stepped back into the room he'd dressed in, took the torc out of his bag and slipped it around his slender neck.  
  
It sat at the base of his throat with the two wolf head facing each other just on either side of the top of his breast bone. When he first touched it and as he settled it into position the green emeralds flashed with bright light. Now as he took a deep breath they settled to dim glow.  
  
Kou's grandmother gave him a brilliant smile, "beautiful, now, would you help an old woman bring the meat platters into the dining room?" Her praise eased Akihito's nerves about wearing the piece and enabling him to follow her down the hallway to the kitchen.  
  
The Shrine priest was a very old kitsune. He smiled broadly when Asami and his Betas reached the top of the Shrine steps and welcomed them as if they had known each other for years rather than having just met for the first time. The man ushered them into a rather modern office considering the rest of the property's structures.  
  
The old man then bid them to sit, "Asami-sama, it is a pleasure to meet you."  
  
"As I find meeting you, Ojiisan." Asami sat in the only other available chair other than the one behind the desk. "I am interested in learning how you came to meet my spouse."  
  
The old man laughed, "I seriously doubt that your grandfather told you about the boy and that the first you even heard of it was after reading the documents I sent you."  
  
Asami glowered at the old man, "I don't believe that is any of your business."  
  
The man just hummed, "Perhaps in normal circumstances no. However my family has been devout followers of Amaterasu-ōmikami for untold centuries and while her name may have changed over time her purpose has not." He settled back into his chair, tell me Asami, what do you know of the Were species origins?"  
  
"I know that science is still trying to quantify how we are able to have two completely incompatible DNA strands in our bodies and how we're able to switch between them and even mix them when we wish."  
  
"Ah you are a believer that science will find the link between our different parts and prove that we're natural evolutions?"  
  
"I was taught to believe that 'When you have eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth.' I am merely waiting on science to eliminate the impossible."  
  
"A fan of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle are you?" the old man grinned when Asami's tick gave away he'd hoped to one up the old priest. "What if I could provide with the truth now, instead of waiting on science to answer questions it hasn't even gotten around to asking yet."  
  
"I will listen to whatever you have to say; I do not promise to believe you."  
  
The old man nodded, "Belief will be a completely different conversation." He settled back into his chair and sighed, "There will never be enough time to tell the whole story. In truth the beginning has been retold through so many generations that its actual start has been muddled. So, I shall start with the birth of a very special human baby boy."  
  
The old man's tale took nearly forty minutes and was full of wondrous deeds, bitter heartache, and bonds forged through blood and fire. Were Asami a religious Were he'd have asked where the nearest alter was so he could pray. The bulk of the story was lost on him, except the finial part.  
  
In the story the goddess Amaterasu bestowed two gifts to the human boy and his wolf mate. Two metal torcs. The old man gave them detailed descriptions. He spoke of the twelve woven strands of twisted metal spilt between iron, copper, silver and gold equally and how each end of the weave was captured by exquisite carvings of wolf heads. The old man spoke of dark black metal making up the head one end of the piece with golden amber for eyes and how the other wolf head was carved from ivory and had tiny green emeralds inside the carved lids.  
  
Asami had paid close attention because a version of the torcs in the story sat just at the base of his own throat. The white wolf head on the left and the black wolf head on the right. It was the 'Torc of Authority' and the only way any other wolf of the Asami clan would recognize the Pack Alpha. For when the Asami clan's true pack Alpha settled the piece about their neck the amber in the black wolf's eyes always glowed. The green gems only glowed for one reason as well, when the Alpha touched his destined mate.  
  
As far as Asami knew the only time they dimmed was when the Pack's magic determined it was time for an Alpha to step down or the Alpha un-expectantly dies. Asami had also believed that only his Pack members knew about the piece. Yet here was an old Were-kitsune spinning tales about not only his Pack's torc but how there were actually two, one each given to the ancestors of the wear-wolves to ensure that the reincarnated souls of the human boy and the forest guardian wolf would find each other again.  
  
It was Kirishima that stated something Asami didn't even think of, "You wouldn't have told that story unless you believe you've found the reincarnation of the boy in it."  
  
The old man smiled, "Each Priest of this shrine is sent a vision during their ascension to their finial positions. My grandfather's and father's was to aid the people of this city during the war. My sons is to establish a broader understanding of Were's to the human world and help our people integrate more fully into Human society. My grandsons will likely not even become priests at all."  
  
He leaned forward and captured Asami's eyes, "I have served Amaterasu-ōmikami my whole life with only one purpose; reunite the boy with his wolf."  
  
Asami only had one question, "Why?"  
  
They followed the old man into the main house. It was back among several ginko trees and walls of living bamboo. Asami could hear the sounds of numerous voices as they approached and he saw Kazumi nod to at least one of his men as they passed through the only opening in the bamboo.  
  
The old man led them to a room full of people, there were several children already seated at a small separate table in a room just off the main dining area. The main dining area held a western style table with chairs. It was wooden and could hold twenty people eight on each side and two on each end.  
  
Asami was led to the end of the table farthest from the kitchen and the children's table. Kirishima was sat to his right and Kazumi to Kei's right after which the rest of the seats were taken up by children of the old priest and their spouses.  
  
There was a blonde haired teen to the left of the empty chair at Asami's end of the table followed by a raven haired teen and three others that looked to be siblings of some sort. The last three on that side of the table were obviously the oldest grand-children which looked to be in their early twenties. He was introduced to each of them but honestly didn't try to learn their names.  
  
The face and hair he was looking for was not at the table. Asami noticed that the seat next to the old man was also empty. Kirishima had said the man's wife was still alive and she was obviously not yet seated. He also noticed that though soup and vegetables had been placed on the table and each seating had rice there was no meat and he was certain that the Were-kitsune were not vegetarians.  
  
The screen between the dining hall and the large kitchen opened up and two people came through carrying large platters of Beef Tataki, Chicken Teriyaki, and Pork Shogayaki. The old woman came through first with platter in each hand and passed one to the man sitting next to her seat and the other to her spouse, the old priest, who passed it down the other side.  
  
Behind her came the boy Asami had effectively been chasing for the past forty-eight hours. He was concentrating so hard on not dropping the platter of food that he didn't notice Asami or his two Beta's until he reached Asami's seat. He looked up as he passed the platter to Asami saying, "Please help yourself to some of Obaasan's mouthwatering Pork Shogayaki."  
  
Asami reached out to take the platter pausing when he noticed the metalwork about the boy's neck. At the same time the boy clearly recognized Asami and jerked back nearly spilling the platter. Asami grabbed the boy's hands to steady the tray and prevent a spill.  
  
Both their torcs flashed green and gold.  
  
Kei had to save the meat. The boy jerked his hands free and fled the room. The blonde and raven haired teens rose from their seats and called out to him, "Aki!"  
  
He paid no heed to the call. He had to run. Even if he couldn't escape the Alpha he at least needed to get far enough away from the kitsune so that the Alpha wouldn't hurt them. He powered his way down the long hall and skidded into the room with his pack. He was glad he kept it packed now though he was about to lose more clothes. He didn't have time to strip before his change this time.  
  
Asami leapt after his wayward spouse. It no longer mattered that the boy probably didn't know they were married. Nor that he was too young to understand what their grand-parents had done in regards to their future choices. The emeralds on his torc had lit like tiny green stars and the boy was his.  
  
He was only steps behind the boy when the pup turned a corner and all but slid into a room. The boy scooped up his duffel bag and slung it over his shoulder. Asami reached out and grabbed the boy about the shoulders  
  
Akihito was just calling the magic into himself to transform when large warm arms grabbed him about the shoulders. They trapped his arms to his sides. He lost the magic in panic and tried to rip his way out of the arms holding him. He slammed his head backwards encountering a large chest. He wiggled and kicked with both of his feet slamming his heels into the Alpha's shins.  
  
Asami gripped the boy in one arm and tried to grab his head to help keep him still. That was a mistake. As soon as he got his hand close to the boy's face the brat bit him. Worse the boy wouldn't let go. Drawing blood before Asami was able to pry the boy's mouth from his hand which took him releasing the boy from his grip. It retrospect Asami decided he'd only gotten his hand free because the boy had achieved what he wanted from the bite, Asami releasing him with his other hand.  
  
As soon as he felt the arm about him relax Akihito released the hand he bit and lept towards the paper covered window. He hated that he had to tear through it and promised himself that he'd find some way to send money back to the nice family for repairs. For now though he tore through the paper and wood and rolled out onto the broad porch. He sprang to his feet and ran across the small back yard towards the trees beyond.  
  
Asami pushed his way past the mess the boy had left the window in. he stopped on the edge of the wooden porch and drew his power around him. It wasn't something he did often in truth it had been years since he'd had to exert the command his position as Alpha gave him. He felt himself swell with the 'authority' and yelled across the yard, "Akihito, Stop!"  
  
With the bellow, Akihito skidded to a stop and turned to look back at the Alpha behind him. It was the one thing that irked him the most, Alphas using their gifts to force others. It was like the big brutes couldn't conceive of asking for something and the thought that not everything and being they saw wasn't tripping over themselves to please them was some sort of affront. Well Akihito wasn't having any of it. He hadn't been impressed by the Shimo Pack Alpha at eight and he certainly wasn't impressed by the bully yelling at him now.  
  
Akihito would later look at his choice to stop and put Asami in what Akihito saw at the time as his 'place' as poor judgment on his part. He would concede that he was not as cautious as his two years of living on his own should have made him nor was he as wise as his successes to that point had led him to believe. However, he never forgot to place the blame for what happened next directly at Asami's feet.  
  
Asami smiled to himself. Only other Alphas could overcome a command delivered with that voice and most of them could not ignore the Asami Alpha's use of 'authority'. Its power was that of the original forest guardian and supposedly granted by the goddess Amaterasu herself. Something until this evening Asami had taken with a grain of belief.  
  
Behind the boy his men surrounded the yard drawn by Asami's pull on the pack links to power his order. Asami stepped off the porch secure in the knowledge that the boy was stilled, unable to escape the rigid halt he'd come to in back of the yard. Part of Asami was saddened he'd had to use his position as Alpha to keep the boy from leaving.  
  
Still he only intended to talk and would release the command as soon as the boy saw reason. He almost nodded to himself as he decided that the boy could show he was being reasonable by apologizing for biting him. So it was with utter shock that Asami watched the boy smile, before he flipped Asami the American finger symbol for 'fuck off' and spun around on his heel to sprint into the trees.  
  
What happened next Asami would lay at the boy's feet. He should have just stayed put. Regardless of the guard's punishment afterwards the boy wouldn't have gotten harmed had he not flagrantly flaunted his complete disregard for Asami's power of 'Authority' as an Alpha.  
  
Akihito flipped the alpha off and spun about. He pushed off intending to reach full speed by the time he reached the edge of the trees at the back of the yard. He never saw the darkly clothed man holding the gun. Years later he'd tell people that he never felt the bullet enter him. In truth he didn't feel his back slam into the ground or the rock that dug its way into the back of his skull.  
  
He did feel the searing burn in his chest after he was down though. It was like someone had taken a burning piece of wood to his lungs. Only as soon as he felt the heat he became cold; he wondered if he was dying. He'd read about that. How people dying got so very cold. He started shivering and his teeth were rattling. He laughed or tried to at least; it came out as a wet cough.  
  
He could hear people yelling. The Alpha was one of them. He was yelling Aki's name. Akihito wondered why the Alpha would do that. He felt the darkness creeping up on him. His last conscious thought was if he'd get to see his parents one the other side. 


	8. Waking Dreams

_The beast was blacker than charcoal and its eyes burned with feral light. Akihito watched as the lord and his men pulled the bamboo cage through the village streets; he cringed on behalf of the beast with each jeer yelled and each rotted food thrown. The wolf's eyes swept across the crowding villagers and it growled lowly. Akihito was certain the beast would be snapping its teeth but the lord and his men had wrapped the large muzzle in tight hemp rope. Akihito could see where the twisted fiber cut into the creature's lips and jaw. When the procession reached the central square the lord climbed the platform the village had hastily raised when they were told the beast had been captured._  
  
_Akihito pulled himself back into the shadows of the alley; he had no desire to listen to the man ramble about how he'd captured the beast that had been ravaging the village boars and digging up the village crops. Nor did Akihito have time to listen to the poor beast's death sentence. He had preparations to finish._  
  
_Ryuichi tried to settle but the cruel lord had tied his front and back legs to the cage walls preventing him from reclining. The village had been loud and violent. Poking his cage with sharp sticks and singing his fur with torches. He would be glad when the moon reached it zenith. At that height it would provide him with the power to escape the cage and summon his pack. He glanced at the wall of sharp stakes that made up the flimsy village wall and almost chuckled remembering that the village lord had promised they would burn the 'beast' at sun rise._  
  
_Snow started falling thick and rapid, forming deep mounds quickly about the cage. The blizzard was early for the year. Ryuichi was not bothered by the cold, his coat, even singed, kept him warm. It was the wetness that irritated him. The flakes warmed on his pelt and seeped past his outer coat to soak the under fur. Since he was trapped in the too small cage he couldn't even fluff and shake the water away as he normally would. He looked forward to returning to his deep cave after dealing with the village._  
  
_Something tugged on the rope holding his back legs. Ryuichi blamed the snow for muting both the creature's smell and the sounds of its movements. He growled low in his throat._  
  
_"Sush… I'll have you free in a few moments, hayashi-nushi." Aki struggled with the ropes. They were tied tightly and he was trying to be careful of the poor creature's fur and skin. "I don't wish to hurt you."_  
  
_Ryuichi nearly chuckled at the thought of the human hurting him. He would not even be here had Amaterasu-ōmikami not ordered the death of the lord and his men. The man and his people had denied her the offerings due her for protection of the village. Worse the man and his cronies had cornered the goddess' kannushi raping the young man before slitting the poor human's throat with a preserved wolf claw._  
  
_Akihito worked his way around the cage cutting the ropes from the beast's legs with the tiny knife he'd been able to sneak out of the armory. The blade was barely longer than his small hand and the hilt was only ragged scraps of leather Aki had scrounged from the tanning shed. He knew taking the things made him a thief. It was what the villagers called him anyway. Had he lost his mother sooner he might have thought that 'bastard', 'whore's son', 'thief' and 'freak' were his actual names. No one had called him Akihito since her death._  
  
_Tears rimmed his lids as he paused cutting away the last rope along the beast powerful front legs. He blamed the rising wind on the wetness in his eyes. He wasn't crying; orphans didn't have the right. He brushed at his cheeks and went back to sawing at the ropes. His fingers were numb and the leather wet and icy from the snow and cold. He grunted and looked up at the black wolf; the creature's amber eyes caught his just before huffing a warm breath across his face._  
  
_Akihito jerked to his feet and backwards. Not because the puff of air was all that strong but because the wolf's breath stank. He waved a hand in front of his face while curling his lip. "Hey, I don't' know what you ate, but you might want to avoid it next time. Your breath reeks." He swore the beast laughed. Shaking his head at his fancy he knelt again and started sawing at the bindings keeping the cage closed. The twine was easier to get through and soon enough he had the cage door swung up and resting on the top._  
  
_He reached for the rope about the large wolf's muzzle only to snatch his hands back when the beast calmly opened his jaws snapping the ropes and freeing his fangs. Akihito briefly wondered what they would feel like wrapped around his throat. Then he shuddered the strange tingling the thought left in his gut confused. He stepped back then, "Come on out. I'll open the gate for you." He turned and limped away._  
  
_Ryuichi had not known he was holding his breath as the boy fearlessly cut him free. At first it had been because he was surprised one of the villagers dared to free the akuma the village lord swore was at fault for the spattering of slaughtered boars and torn up fields. That the lord was partially correct was not important. Ryuichi and his pack had hunted the boars. It was a free ranging warren of rabbits however that was destroying the crops. Ryuichi and his pack having stopped hunting those not long after Amaterasu had found her priest defiled and dead in the forest glade._  
  
_Still the boy was brave as he carefully cut away the ropes holding his back legs. So it had been surprise that had caused Ryuichi to suck in and hold the large amount of air when he first laid his eyes on the boy. The human was tiny and could be no more than a babe. As the boy bent over the ropes in concentration Ryuichi could tell that even standing tall the human would hardly reach his shoulder. His maw was nearly twice the size of the young human's head and what a head it was. Crowned in a riot of silver gold curls only seen on the rarest of golden kitsune. Yet, Ryuichi knew this boy was no servant of Inari's._  
  
_The boy finished with the ropes and looked up. The bright blue green irises around his pupils reminded Ryuichi of the deep forest pool near his den. The boy's face was pale except for the red cheeks and nose brought on by the freezing cold. The air between them filled with fog as Ryuichi loosed the breath in his lungs. He chuckled when the boy recommended he not eat boar again. Though, the boy was correct about the smell; the consumption of the fatty beasts always left Ryuichi's breath icky for days._  
  
_He watched as the boy released the cage door from its ties and shrugged his way out of the cage as soon as the boy stepped back. He glanced around the village square. The houses were closed up tight though none of the bamboo and paper walls were a defense against his pack. He cocked his head and listened to their sounds beyond the walls before glancing at the position of the moon. He knew where the celestial body was even covered by the thick winter storm. He glanced at the boy then. He was quietly working on freeing the large rough tree trunk slid into the woven hemp rings that kept the gates closed. He wasn't strong enough to just slip the large round log from its shackles and was having to work at sliding it free._  
  
_Ryuichi reached out to his pack signaling them to prepare for the attack. He then reminded them that none were to be left alive except one small golden haired boy. The gate opening would be their signal. He then grew to his normal size._  
  
_Akihito hated the gate to the village. The log slipped through the rings each night was thicker in some places than others and really required more than one person to open up in the morning and close up at night. He had to scoot the rings along the log a little at a time. It took him numerous minutes and he was glad that the snow muffled the sounds of the night. When he finally got the log far enough away from one set of rings he swung one of the two gate doors open. The wind outside was stronger than inside the walls. White covered everything, including the air as the wind whipped the show around in thick swirls._  
  
_Akihito turned to see if the wolf had followed him. He really wanted to get the creature out of the village before he left himself. He doubted he'd survive the blizzard however anything was better than what the lord forced from him. The beast was standing in front of the cage; it seemed to grow. Then raising its muzzle to the unseen moon it howled._  
  
_Aki watched in fascinated horror as dozens of large wolves leapt over the village walls, clearing the sharp tops by several meters. He stood stupefied as armed men poured out of the lord's house, half-dressed but armed with pikes and bows. The wolves tore through the village houses and blood dripped from their lips. The slaughter was almost absolute before the lord showed his self. Striding out of the thick iron bound wooden doors of his stone house garbed in his lacquered armor with its oni mask and wielding his long nodachi._  
  
_Ryuichi watched as his pack decimated the warriors that assaulted them. Arrows all but bounced from their thick fur and the pikes were snapped in half. A few younger pack members were bloodied but none sustained deep or debilitating wounds. He glanced at the gate and saw that the boy had left. He didn't blame him; the youngster had probably never seen death before and this was much worse. He waited as his pack finished the villagers that had not yet made the safety of the lord's house before turning and fighting the few soldiers that attempted to protect them. Finally the man they were really after exited his house._  
  
_The sword he carried was long and curved. It gleamed in the weak torch light. Ryuichi curled his lips at the oni mask the man wore. No image would frighten him. He crouched low prepping to leap on the man as the man lowered his sword and ran with the point straight at Ryuichi's heart._  
  
_A blur of silver and gold flashed before Ryuichi's eyes and suddenly the boy was hugging him as he gasped blood from his mouth._  
  
_The lord leapt backwards with a yell, "You protect these beast? He is the pack leader! It is his kind that has hunter our food and ruined our fields."_  
  
_The boy pushed stiffly away from Ryuichi turning before he slumped to the ground and choked out, "They are not beasts. The wolves of the forest belong to Amaterasu-ōmikami and this one is her mori no gādian, guardian of the forest, alpha of his pack. He is a tennō, deserving of our worship, and charged with carrying out Amaterasu's will. He and his may have hunted our boars and allowed the rabbits to run free but you caused it."_  
  
_The lord laughed, "I caused nothing. These are but wild animals and your faith in Amaterasu is the faith of fools."_  
  
_The boy shook his head, in rejection of the lord's statement or to clear the fog it had probably started forming Ryuichi wasn't certain. The boy whispered his last thought though, "No, you did this by raping and killing her priest." The boy raised his head, "You brought this on yourself." He looked across the cowering villagers before looking up at the dark wolf above him, "Please, spare the children. They are not to blame for their parent's mistakes." He didn't get to hear an answer; Akihito slipped into darkness._  
  
It was the persistent sound of beeping that woke them.  
  
The pain that followed made Akihito wish he'd stayed asleep. He blinked his eyes and tried to swallow panicking when he found his throat blocked. A warm hand grasped his and a deep voice pierced his rising panic, "Shush, pup, you're safe. They'll remove the tube in a minute."  
  
Aki couldn't see who was speaking but the sound of his voice and the warmth of his touch calmed his frantically beating heart and allowed him to follow the spoken directions the green garbed and masked people who suddenly fluttered around him. He felt the tube as it slid back up his throat. He blinked and swallowed painfully as it was finally extracted.  
  
The group of medical personnel about him seemed to grow. Two were disconnecting IV lines attached to the port he could now feel in his neck. Two were moving large pieces of equipment and a fourth was leaning over him asking questions quicker than he could answer. Fear crawled back up his spine. He didn't know any of the people that made up the strange mixture of humans and Were in the room with him. He tried to wiggle away from their touch but found his arms were tied to flat boards and several IV lines ran from the port in each arm.  
  
Asami growled. It was under his breath but the sound still reverberated across the large room. The medical personnel surrounding his mate paused before the doctor gave his pack alpha a pointed stare and responded with, "You can growl all you want, Asami-sama. However, the boy needs to be thoroughly evaluated. Remember he was shot and once we dug the bullet out we had to deal first with Pneumothorax and then Pneumonia. His head injury ended up being the least of his problems."  
  
Asami grimaced but quieted his audible need to remove the people between him and the boy. He watched as the group seemingly swarmed the boy's bed and chose instead to take in the boy's features. He'd not seen much of the boy beyond the photograph and the fleeting sightings he'd had since chasing him. The emergency medical care his jittery guard had caused meant that the boy's face had been covered by medical equipment and his unique smell had been overpowered by the smell of antiseptic and numerous chemical medications.  
  
He was small and it appeared he wasn't small just because he he'd spent so much time fleeing from whatever it was in the Shimo Pack had done. No, unless there was constant abuse, which the boy's own self-assurance belied, the boy was naturally smaller than even the next nearest Were-ōkami Asami had ever met. Their entire race had always produced larger than normal wolf and human bodies. Laying there in the bed Akihito looked very, very human. The illusion was aided by the fact that the boy didn't heal nearly as fast as normal Were did either. While he certainly recovered from his injuries faster than a normal human could he still ended up in the ICU unit of Asami's personal hospital and he reacted to medication the same way humans did as well.  
  
Weres were not allergic to anything natural and very little man made. Yet, young Akihito was highly allergic to common penicillin and latex. Two things they had not known when they started treating him. It was only a lucky guess by an attending nurse that caught the latex allergy and Asami's own vigilance at the boy's bedside which prevented the worse with the penicillin. Other antibiotics had similar frightening effects on the boy. They'd been forced to drain his lungs when they realized they wouldn't be able to treat the Pneumonia normally. Asami's pack doctor decided he had no choice but to attempt to allow the boy to recover from it on his own. Thus the forced sedation and tubes draining each of his lung sacs while they allowed his wolf to fight the infection alone.  
  
It had been twelve days since the boy had attempted to escape him in Nagoya. In that short time Asami had not left the room the boy had been recovering in beyond personal needs and showering. Kirishima had come by daily with both pack and Sion paperwork. The bulk of work that required Asami's personal attention he did in the dark hours of the night; taking phone calls with heads of the local packs, prides, skulks, flocks, and flights to secure alliances and keep his less than legal shipments flowing into and out of his territory. He also kept track on just where in his city the Shimo pack enforcer was and how far into his search he'd gotten.  
  
When the latest blood tests had shown that there was no longer an infection and that the excessive liquid in his lung sacs had started receding on its own the pack doctor had determined they could release the boy from the bulk of his machines. Thus the busy group of medical personnel that had spent time removing the many varied machines that had drained his boy's chest along with the breathing machine and the myriad of drugs used to keep him quiet and still while his body healed. It was with no little relief that they left the room not long after removing the boy's tubes and other equipment.  
  
Akihito had fallen into a normal sleep several minutes into the removal process. The drugs keeping him sedated had not fully cleared his system. A nurse was hanging a new bag of saline and gave Asami a small smile as she exited the room. His doctor noted some last measurements on his tablet before crossing to his pack Alpha, "He's in remarkably good shape considering. His Were side did a good job of clearing the infection once we helped with the extra fluid he was retaining." He glanced down at his device with a frown, "Though I'd be happier if his lungs were a little clearer. It's not like one of us to develop scar tissue unless the damage is done by tooth or claw."  
  
He looked up at Asami, "I trust that you don't have your security coating their bullets with our saliva."  
  
Asami shook his head, "Not unless we believe there will be interpack conflict and the other party is known to be unreasonable." He scooted his chair back next to the bed, reached out, and took one of Akihito' hands in his. "How soon before I can move him to the penthouse?"  
  
The doctor looked back at his chart, "If he wakes again naturally in the next couple of hours you can move him tonight."  
  
Asami looked at the boy, "I'd like to have him moved before that." He glanced up at the doctor. "He's easily spooked and I'd like the chance to talk to him before he tries to run again."  
  
The pack doctor nodded, "Well you can take him now but you'll have to promise to keep the drip active and allow the speech therapist I send by tomorrow to do a full throat evaluation. Were or not he's not healing as we expect and I don't want a relapse of his infection if we can help it."  
  
Asami nodded, "I can put you or one of your nurses up in the apartment below mine."  
  
"That would do. Though I'm sure Kirishima knows how to change the drips. I'll write up some instructions about his care for the next several days. Mainly that he's not to eat or drink anything until the therapist clears it. He'll have to make due with IV nutrients until then."  
  
Asami nodded again and the doctor left. He sat and held the boy's hand as they waited for the finial paperwork and his ever faithful second to arrive. "Once I've gotten you secured in the safety of my penthouse, pup, I'll begin ferreting out all of your secrets. Including that rather vivid dream. "  
  
Moving the boy was surprisingly simple. The pack doctor allowed Asami to transport him in the limo. The pack high rise was manned by only the most stringently vetted pack members, none of which even seemed to take notice that their Alpha carried what too many would look to be a small child up to his quarters. Kirishima followed behind with the bag of saline, vitamins, and other nutritional drips.  
  
Asami took Akihito to the smaller of the two bedrooms and settled him on the twin bed between the room's closet and bath doors. Kirishima hung the bag of fluid and medication from the small bathroom door, the robe hook being almost perfect. The room was relatively narrow with the small double bed taking up most of the room's space. Normally it was on the opposite wall with a narrow desk between the two doors. Now the desk was gone and the space not taken up by the bed was given over to a wingback and ottoman set upholstered in dark grey with a thick white throw draped over the stool.  
  
They settled the boy in the bed and Asami in the wing chair. Kirishima checked that all was well with the drips and then handed his Alpha several thick folders. For all that Asami insisted that their corporate documents be done electronically when possible, government paperwork consistently thwarted his attempts to become completely electronic.  
  
Asami spent a fruitless twenty minutes trying to read through the government contracts before tossing the pile of folders to the end of the bed past the boy's feet. He couldn't get the strange dream out of his head. It had felt like he was really there and the scenes were not being witnessed but remembered. He could even now see the slaughtered priest that had set his pack upon the small village. What he couldn't see was what happened after the Akihito in the dream, or was it a memory, died.  
  
All he did know was that part of both the wolf he'd been in the dream and the wolf he was now had felt like he'd died with him. He turned his full attention to the near perfect replica of the Akihito that had so bravely freed Asami's Alpha and wondered once again if the kannushi Were-kitsune was correct. Could he and this Akihito be the reincarnations of Amaterasu's beloved boy and his wolf?  
  
Asami nearly chuckled at his own sudden fancies. He had little faith in the mystical for all that he was considered magical by humans. No, he was certain that eventually science would peel back the layers that currently hid how he and his people, in fact how all Weres were able to maintain two physiological states.  
  
He assured himself that the way the boy drew him was that of Alpha to pup. The boy being so young was a boon. Asami would have time to display he could take care of the boy and Akihito would have time to acclimate to his fate. For regardless of their grandparent's contract, regardless of the goddess' whim, the boy was bound to him. Their fates intertwined and sealed together by the bright green glow Asami's torc now held. No Were, including the Alpha, was foolish enough to disregard the 'Torc of Authority'.  
  
_The pack ran. Wind whipped across their fur as they raced through the fields of rice and buckwheat. Small animals hurried back into their burrows at their approach. It was wise of the creatures, though the pack was not actively on a hunt. They ran because it delighted the boy._  
  
_Ryuichi felt a slight tug from the small hands gripping his fur. The boy's legs were locked tight about his sides his small toes gripping the fur under them almost like a monkey. He was glad that his pack could not see the tugs as he swiftly turned and made his way to the wide river he knew the boy trying to direct him to. The group came to the sandy shallows of the river. There was a walled village on the far side and the pack could hear the watchers shout as they paused to drink their fill._  
  
_Akihito slipped from Ryuichi's back and knelt to drink; Ryuichi hovered over the boy careful not to knock him over but close enough that his body blocked the boy from the sight of the small village. He knew of the priest there. Knew the man preached the old ways; Amaterasu and Inari were both venerated and should he choose they could fetch the bag of rice or dried fruits that the village left in the shrines. He looked down at the boy._  
  
_The young man was slight of build and far too thin. Pack life wasn't easy especially the winter months. Though the boy was resourceful enough and had proven his worth regardless of the fact he only had two legs. The pack caves had never been kept so clean and the fresh piles of leaves and pine the boy brought in every week were always soft and fragrant. He kept the bitter cold at bay with his fires, aided in healing their injured, watched over the pups while the pack hunted, and cared for their elderly._  
  
_In the two years since Ryuichi had brought the boy into the great forest Akihito had proven over and over that he cared for the pack as much as they cared for him. He belonged to the pack, but he was human. He remembered the first days the boy had been with them. Wounded and delirious the boy had babbled. Everything Ryuichi knew about the boy was from those days._  
  
_The fact his father had gone out with the hunters and died to a charging boar. He knew how the loss of the man had caused his mother to have to supplement the meager income they had by allowing males not her mate to lay with her. He learned how the boy had been outcast even before his mother had died and how the villagers had beaten him laying the blame for most of their troubles on his small shoulders._  
  
_Amaterasu's young priest however had been kind. He'd taken the boy into the small shrine and taught him. The priest had fed him and clothed him and when the shogun had sent his nephew to oversee the small village the young priest had helped the boy hide from the man's lust. The boy had begged Amaterasu to forgive him. Akihito was convinced that had he just given himself to the village Lord the young priest would not have died._  
  
_Ryuichi knew better. Some men, like some wolves, were just evil. Not that he could tell the boy this, for though the boy lived with the pack and protected them as much as they protected him he was not wolf. Akihito did not possess the right muzzle and throat to produce the wolves' language and Ryuichi could not wrap his tongue or teeth around the sounds the boy made._  
  
_Over the years they had figured out how to communicate basic information. Akihito knew the growls and grunts and whines that meant the pack was heading to hunt, that the pups were in pain or the elders needed his soothing, heated pouches of herbs. Ruyichi as a tennō had always been able to understand human speech, but the rest of his pack had learned what words the boy used for food and sleep and fire. The boy now belonged to the pack, yet he was human._  
  
_It was a state that Ruyichi had not concerned himself with in the beginning. The boy had thrown himself in front of the human lord's blade. He'd foolishly believed he had to save Ryuichi from the sharp instrument of death. Even though all it had achieved was his own wounds and stalling the Lord's death Ryuichi refused to leave the boy and took his sacrifice as the blood let for joining the pack. He'd even assented to the boy's plea that Ryuichi spare the children and had left them and the old couple that had pressed their faces into the ground to their fate with the long cold winter._  
  
_Ruyichi had taken the boy to the headwaters of the Fuji River. There he'd submerged the boy in the magical waters blessed by numerous Kami including Amaterasu and Inari. He'd granted Inari's foxes hunting rights in the western part of the forest in return for their aid in healing the boy's body. Then after several weeks of rest he'd taken the boy to the pack's den and integrated him into their daily routines. Yet, the boy was human._  
  
_The years past and the child grew slowly into his teens. He could see the melancholy that overcame the boy when they encountered others of his kind. There was a bi-yearly pilgrimage by several villages near their den that brought offerings to Amaterasu's shrine near the head waters. They would bring offerings of silk, grain, smoked meats, dried fruits and every once in a while a written scroll._  
  
_Ryuichi had always rested on the raised dais behind the altar during each visit with Akihito curled into his side. The pilgrims never spoke to the boy but always bowed lower when his was there. Akihito would watch them silently, but his eyes lingered on the humans especially parents and their children. The look was wistful._  
  
_The boy was looking at the village the same way just now. Then he turned and smiled at Ryuichi before wrapping his arms about the giant wolf's neck and nuzzling him before baring his throat for Ryuichi to lick and gently nip. He gave one last look at the village before climbing back onto Ryuichi's back and clutching the great beast's under coat and burying his face in the ruff of Ryuichi's neck._  
  
_Weeks past and the Autumn Equinox accompanied by the second of the bi-annual pilgrimage repeated. Akihito watched smiling softly at the toddlers joining the procession. One very young girl tried to reach over the large pile of gifts with a branch of sweet osmanthus Akihito reached out and took the gift from her smiling as he said, "Arigatō, they are beautiful."_  
  
_The adults in the area gasped and the parents of the small child quickly gathered her close. Many whispers sounded through the small bamboo building, but it was the word kōshitsu that Ruyichi knew caused the look of bewilderment upon the boy's face._  
  
_Ryuichi had heard the boy called this before. He'd found satisfaction in the humans belief that the boy was his consort. It meant they would respect Akihito and treat him with the care and difference that he deserved. It also ensured that the offerings included clothing for the boy. Typically feminine in nature but always made with care and of exquisite silks and cottons. The boy had been to young to know that the garments were sewn for women and always wore the nicest from the previous season's visits to show how much he appreciated the gifts._  
  
_This pilgrimage however included a new group. They sneered at the title the older folks had given the boy and approached the altar with their offerings with swaggering steps. After negligently tossing them on the pile, the oldest of the group openly appraised Akihito._  
  
_Staring at the boy with undisguised lust before sneering, "Skinny, flat chested little thing for a kōshitsu." He laughed, "Well I've gifted you, what do I get for the trouble?" He reached across the gifts and rubbed his hand on Akihito's silk covered thigh. "A gift received for a gift given. Isn't that how this works?" Akihito jerked away pressing his body farther into Ryuichi's side._  
  
_The young man's group laughed, the rest of the people gasped in shock, many looking down in embarrassment. Ryuichi growled low in his throat and bared his teeth. The young children in the group started whimpering. Akihito reached up with his hand and petted Ryuichi's ears murmuring platitudes. The offending man pulled his hand back and gave Ryuichi a nervous laugh. "Guess you really are the creature's pet." then he turned and left the small building. The two priests knelt in apology and refused to rise until Akihito asked them to. Only many assurances by the young man that he was not offended enabled the procession to complete._  
  
_Many days past and Ryuichi forgot the incident at the shrine. He was called by Amaterasu to deal with an encroaching band of Oni on the far western edge of the Fugi mountain chain and after being gone for nearly two weeks was only just returning to the den. The task shouldn't have taken that long, however the group had split which meant that he'd been forced to track both groups before he could return home. Some sort of schism must have happened for the groups had gone two desperate directions causing Ryuichi to have to back track much of the original trail. In the end he'd only been able to eliminate the smaller of the two groups. By the time he'd reached the end of the larger scent trail the oni had already returned to their realm._  
  
_He had missed his boy. Much more than he'd missed his pack. It was disconcerting that during his entire travels he kept wishing the boy's weight had been on his shoulders and back. That when he took a curving path it was because small hands had tugged him right or left instead of just because it would take him around a tree or bolder. Soon though he would be back at the den, perhaps he would take the boy for a run tonight. The new moon had just past and a waxing crescent would light the sky and he knew Akihito would enjoy the time._  
  
_Ryuichi allowed his mind to almost wonder as he loped through his forest and found it settled upon the image of him and his boy running the forest together as wolves. They tussled in the fallen leaves, stalked a young green pheasant, and then chased each other back to Ryuichi's private den. There they lay panting before the young boy and he shone with bright white light and wrapped their arms about each other as white and black pups crowded about their legs. The image nearly made Ryuichi slam into a tree._  
  
_He paused to shake his head. Ryuichi was a minor Kami in his own right. Amaterasu may have pulled him from the other realm and requested he guard the forest about the volcano, but he had chosen the form of the wolf and gathered the others in order to better fulfill the task he'd agreed to perform on his own._  
  
_Hundreds of years had past since he took up this charge and he like the life of a wolf. The pack was his family and he enjoyed watching the pups of his pack brothers and sisters grow and mature. He always watched with pride as each youngster choose to stay and strengthen Ryuichi's pack or strike out and build their own. Not once had he wanted one of those pups to be his. Not once had he wanted to mate._  
  
_However now that the seed was planted Ryuichi found he wanted it more than anything. Why not was his burning question. The fact that he no longer had the power to change into another form was inconsequential. He had faithfully served Amaterasu's purpose for hundreds of years. Certainly she would help with this. He set off again. This time without the wondering thoughts; Akihito was at the pack den. It was time to make the boy his true kōshitsu._  
  
_He slowed as he reached the pack's main territory. The woods were unnaturally silent. No birds chirped, no rodents shuffled, and no omnivore rustled. Soon enough the discordant silence was joined by unfamiliar smells. Humans, and not just any humans, but hate and lust filled humans carrying Oni magics. They traveled along the path to the shrine. It was then that he smelled the smoke. Ryuichi broke into another run. The pack den was behind the shrine, down a trail at the foot of a small waterfall._  
  
_The shrine was in ruins a blackened shell instead of the sturdy wooden building it should be. The trees and underbrush around it had been blacked by the flames as well. The trail to the den, usually hidden by that growth was exposed, laying open for any and all that passed to see. It was at the head of the trail he first smelled the blood and found the first body._  
  
_They lay along the trail like furry logs unnaturally still and stiff. They were only hours cold and Asami could now hear the sounds of battle. He ran faster and burst into the small clearing where the waterfalls created a deep pool and several caves opened to the weakening sunshine. The space was full of dead and dying. Human, oni, and wolf lay dead about the glen whiles other of each kind fought with weapon, tooth, claw, and terrible magic._  
  
_His boy stood waving a burning branch in front of the cave where Ryuichi knew the pups were hidden. Two of the oldest wolves stood growling at his sides. The young man that had insulted his mate at the last pilgrimage stood laughing at the boy. He pointed his spear and rushed the cave opening. Ryuichi charged across the clearing intending to leap upon the man's back. A thick club struck him center chest and knocked him to the ground._  
  
_A large oni loosed a deep laugh and swung the club at Ryuichi's head. The wolf barely ducked enough and the club scraped the top of his ears. The familiar smell of the second oni group he had hunted in the west came to his nostrils. They hadn't returned to their realm. Instead they had used their magics to hide their trail as they traveled east. That would have required human blood. This was not a chance meeting between two different foes. It was a coordinated attack on Ryuichi's pack and den. He rose to his full height and howled._  
  
_The pack seemed to rally but it was not enough. The oni empowered by the human blood they'd been given and further emboldened by their kills decimated the group. Their leader crowed Ryuichi between his swinging club and the cliff side and though Kami Ryuichi had tired under their oppressive magics and his constant switching between protecting his boy and defending his self. He glanced to see how his boy was doing and missed the swinging club._  
  
_It bashed against his left ear and Ryuichi felt the blood pour from his ear. Blackness was crowding his sight when once again a bright white light flashed across his vision. Akihito had thrown his self across Ryuichi's body screaming for the oni to stop._  
  
_They did and the battle stilled as the young man that had lead the attackers laughed, "You wish to save them?"_  
  
_"Please! I'll do anything; stop hurting them."_  
  
_Ryuichi wanted to tell his boy 'no'. He tried to push Akihito towards the deep pool the oni couldn't follow him across clean running water. The boy needed to run. Instead all he did was sound a pained whimper. He never heard what offer the human made to Akihito but he was forced to watch as the boy knelt in front of the invader and prostrate himself. The human pulled the boy up by his hair and dragged him out of the clearing._  
  
It was the boy's whimpers that woke Asami. 


	9. Emotions Have Power

He leaned over his boy. Akihito was restless and murmured as he fought whatever nightmare gripped his sleep. Asami reached out, ran his fingers through the boy's hair and whispered, "Shush, little pup, you're safe now." He nearly chuckled as the boy pushed his head into Asami's touch.  
  
Akihito settled back into quiet slumber and Asami spent several minutes just running his fingers through the boy's hair before he released the silvery strands. He was about to reach for the pile of folders at the boy's feet when his phone buzzed in his pocket. He pulled it free to see that Kirishima was attempting to reach him. He stood grabbed the folders and answered the cell as he exited the room.  
  
Akihito felt like he was swimming though honey. He had tried to move his arm as awareness came to him but all he'd succeeded in doing so far was wiggle his fingers and toes. His eye lids felt heavy and the light that seeped through the crack he'd made had blinded him.  
  
He spent what felt like hours figuring out how to make his limbs work, then another convincing his limbs to push him into a mostly sitting position. He curiously looked about the room his was in only to close his eyes in confusion seconds later.  
  
He was not at the shrine. He wracked his brain trying to make his memories match any situation that would have brought him to a high rise bedroom in Tokyo's Sinjuku ward. Nothing came to mind. It didn't help that his nose was stuffed dulling his usually sensitive nostrils and preventing from scenting anything beyond the strong chemical smells of laundry detergent, wafting up from the sheets and blankets of the bed he sat in.  
  
He took a step back in his brain and then took a good long look around the room. It was as large as his former apartment. Yet only held the bed he was in and a large grey upholstered wingback with a similarly covered foot rest over which lay a thick white throw. The floor was thickly carpeted in a darker grey which matched the thick floor to ceiling curtains pulled back to each end of the floor to ceiling, wall to wall windows looking out over Tokyo's western skyline.  
  
The walls were a deep cream color like the heavy stuff his mother had always preferred in her black tea. He was forced to pause in his perusal of the room for several seconds while he pushed those memories away. He took a deep breath and focused his eyes on the walls again. Most were bare. Though the one across from his held a large print of the lake photo from Takehito Miyatake's breath taking Hotaru (Fireflies) series. The image was perfect with the deep water blackened by the shadows from the dark green forest while his long exposure mapped the beauty of the fireflies' mating dance in long bright green lines of color. Akihito smiled; at least his host or hostess had good taste in photography.  
  
He took in the rest of the room finally noticing that his IV was attached to a nearly empty bag of fluid hanging from a hook in the middle of one of the two doors flanking the bed he was laying in. Sight of the fluid triggered a biological need. It was one he usually had when he woke in the mornings; though he determined it was not actually morning from the position of the sun in his window and how it had change during his few moments of looking about the room. Still his body didn't seem to care and Aki found himself carefully working his way to the edge of the bed near the door with the hook.  
  
He stood carefully glad to find his strength wasn't completely absent. He opened the door and peeked in. Behind it he saw a large ensuite. It contained a deep tub, a large glass shower, a wide counter with a deep sink and a closed off area holding a toilet. He sighed and grabbed the bag his arm was shackled to and worked his way over to the toilet.  
  
He took care of his business, flushed and washed his hands. He took a long look at his body and face in the iron bound mirror over the sink. The room's color and light did little to help the sight in front of him. He looked awful. His cheeks were sunken and his skin was sallow pale yet almost grey in the bright white lights. He could clearly see the bones on his chest which was exposed by the overly large dark grey t-shirt he was clothed in. He didn't know where the shirt had come from and he was exceedingly glad he had found himself also wearing tight boxer briefs. Though they were plain black and he'd grown quiet fond of the oddly printed ones he'd usually found at the second hand stores.  
  
His stomach growled and he rubbed it as he took a deep breath. "Guess I should see if there is anyone else in this place." He glanced down at the IV line, "I probably shouldn't take this out by myself anyway." He picked the bag up, looped the long line gently around it and opened the bathroom door. He crossed the short distance across the room to a door by itself and opened it. To his left was a short hall way with two doors and a picture window at the end.  
  
To his right was the beginning of the hallway open to a larger room in which he could see part of a dining table and an overly large overly stuffed chair in startling blue. Beside it was a short bamboo table stained white. The floors of the hallway and the part of the opening he could see were also white stained bamboo running lengthwise down the hallway and into the rooms beyond. He decided the large opening must lead to the living area. Beyond it he could hear low voices out of his sightline. He carefully stepped towards the conversation.  
  
Asami glowered at his grandfather and father. The two men ignored him.  
  
He sighed; they were the only two members of his pack that didn't see any reason to bow to his demands. The fact both had been Pack Alpha before had little to do with it. They were more likely to remind him that they'd changed his diapers and thus would never be susceptible to his Authority. The dynamics between the three of them just didn't work that way. He sighed again and tried to interrupt the two older men as they discussed just what they planned to do for Akihito.  
  
Rinichi, his grandfather, kept insisting that Ryuichi should mate with the boy and cement his claim before any other actions were taken, including telling the boy he and Ryuichi were already legally married, or would be May sixth of the following year, one day after the boy turned sixteen.  
  
Ryoichi, his father, agreed with his son. In as much as that it wasn't the feudal era and the boy legal or not was too young to be mated, even for his own safety. However, he believed that he and Ryuichi's grandfather should take the boy to the pack's private island and hide him there until he was sixteen after which the old man thought it was perfectly ok for Ryuichi to mate and mark the boy.  
  
They had discussed various possibilities for nearly two hours now and other than all agreeing that it was imperative they hide the boy from the Shimo pack enforcer the three had not come to any consensus. It had only taken the two older men one look at the Torc now sitting on the table between them and the photo the Shimo pack rep had given Ryuichi for them to agree that the boy was the last surviving member of the Takabas. Both men were saddened that whoever had been caring for the boy in the past eight years had not thought it safe to being him to the safety of the Asami pack and all three of them wondered why.  
  
Now though all Asami wanted to do was find several pain killers to ease the throbbing behind his eyes and then return to the guest room where the boy slept. He'd not wanted to leave the boy's side and he was only still out in his living room because it meant his father and grandfather weren't also hovering over the boy.  
  
Still he needed to check on the boy and rose from the round table where they sat near his wet bar saying, "I'm going to check on the boy. He should be awake soon and I don't want him frightened."  
  
His grandfather nodded, "Once he's better we really need to figure out why the Shimo pack wants him."  
  
A soft voice sounded from the end of the hall way, "Who are you and how do you know the Shimo pack Alpha is chasing me?"  
  
The three men turned and took in the small form swaying at the end of the hallway. Ryuichi stood and started towards the boy who backed up quickly holding out a hand as if to ward him off. Ryuichi paused at the fear rising in the boy's eyes and the stress straining his limbs.  
  
He hated that the boy was scared. It was fear past just that of not knowing where he was or who he was with. Ryuichi could feel the helplessness the boy was fighting. He wasn't certain what had happened while the boy and his guardians lived among the Shimo pack but Asami vowed to himself right then he would not only find out he'd ensure it never happened again. If his grandfather's and father's growls were anything to go by they felt the same.  
  
Akihito stopped retreating when the large Alpha stopped several paces from his out stretched hand. He clutched the IV bag to his chest like the thin plastic could protect him from the anger crowding the Alpha's eyes. He watched as the man frowned briefly before his golden eyes took on a dark light. The space between them suddenly became too small as Akihito heard all three Alphas growl lowly in their throats.  
  
Akihito knew he should run; angry Alphas and he had never mixed well. It was his first thought but sudden images ran through his head and the growl from the golden eyed stranger in front of him became super imposed over sounds from memories he was no longer positive weren't his.  
  
_Akihito rode his dark black, larger than life wolf as it led their pack on a run. He was wrapped in several layers of silk Kimonos and riding the wolf through tall golden stalks of rice. He knew that the humans would be harvesting the rice soon and the pack was charged with keeping the fields safe from the rodents that would eat the sweet kernels and endanger the harvesters with their burrows. His wolf's pack ran the fields regularly catching the rodents. They ate the first set they caught and then gathered others to carry back to their dens._  
  
_The sun was setting when the pack came across a small group of mounted men with pikes and swords. The group was traveling the wide lanes through the fields that connected the villages to the capital in the east and to each other. The group paused and lowered their pikes as his wolf's pack set across the road. His wolf, the pack's alpha and leader, swung to face the humans and growled low in his throat. The humans started muttering and it was clear to Akihito they were nervous about what the great wolf, which was larger than their horses, would do._  
  
_Aki scratched his wolf behind his left ear and pushed the feeling of calmness out towards the group of human's. He couldn't remember when he'd learned to press his own feelings onto others but now he could do it with humans, animals and even his own pack with ease. His alpha lowered himself to the ground enabling Aki to slide off the beast's back. Aki scratched behind the left ear again and the great wolf's golden eyes glared at him. Aki almost laughed; it was the closest his wolf came to saying 'I know what you're doing and you'd better stop it'._  
  
_He introduced his self and his pack to the group's leader. A barrel of a man that looked like he was about to pop out of the lamellar armor he wore. He was visiting from the capital and was quite belligerent with Akihito as the boy tried to explain that the pack kept the fields free of rodents in exchange for the offerings left for Amaterasu-ōmikami. The leader smiled at that and mentioned how nice it would be for his fields to have a fine wolf pack to keep them clean. Then he gestured towards Aki, "You have this one quite wrapped about your fingers boy. Come work for me; I will treat you well and you and your wolves will keep my fields clear of rabbits and moles."_  
  
_Aki shook his head and tried to explain that he didn't control these wolves. They had taken him into their pack and he was just their servant for explaining to strangers in these lands what the pack was and why it roamed free. The lord laughed, turned and instructed his men to take the boy into custody. Any person that could talk to wolves was suspect and he had the shogun's permission to take all suspects in for questioning._  
  
_Aki tried to explain how that was a bad idea and his wolf rose back to his paws and growled in agreement. The lord frowned and ordered his men to kill the wolf. "You will belong to me."_  
  
_The aura of clam Aki was pressing around the group insured the bulk of the human's paused in following the lord's orders. However, Aki saw the youngest member of the humans grip his pike harder. He pushed the area of calm larger but failed to reach the youngster before he'd kicked the horse's sides and charge the large wolf. Aki screamed and attempted to throw his self in front of the weapon only to find his self pushed to the ground with his wolf standing over him holding the pike's shaft in his jaws. The young man had been pulled from his horse, which had run off down the lane rider less, and lay terrified just beyond Akihito's reach. His wolf was growling deeply._  
  
_Aki reached out and scratched the beast again and whispered, "I'm safe, Omo. They can't take me." His wolf growled again and Aki pushed his own feelings of safety towards the beast as he scratched and petted behind the wolf's left ear as he whispered, "I'm yours."_  
  
Akihito felt the arm about his hips before he smelled the warm whiskey and tobacco scented breath of the man leaning over him and carding a hand through his hair. He opened his eyes and found himself peering up into the golden eyes of his wolf.  
  
He felt the flush rising up from his chest and pulled his gaze from the man's eyes to focus on his face instead. 'My wolf?' Aki was beyond embarrassed about the thought. Though he found solace in the fact the Alpha was no longer growling, he was positive he should extract his self before the man realized the cause of his change in emotions. However, when he tried to wriggle out of the man's arms they tightened around him while the one about his hips lifted him up.  
  
Asami Ryuichi prided himself on controlling his own emotions. According to his father and grandfather the ability to do so was the mark of an Alpha of the highest caliber. The skill was excellent when it came to dealing with the pack the warriors knew he would never make decisions based off unpredictable feelings and the young found him sturdy and trustworthy that he didn't succumb to them. However, he always knew what he really felt about a situation.  
  
For instance he knew that the Shimo pack's pursuit of the boy frightened him, partially because it was severely out of character for any insular wolf pack to chase a pup this far outside their own territory but also because the boy was his. His Torc even now grew warmer as he held the boy and he knew that should he look both sets of gems would be glowing.  
  
He also knew that whenever he saw fear and stress in the boy's eyes it made him angry. He knew that he growled with frustration when the boy was afraid, not because he was mad at the boy but because he didn't have enough information to fix or remove whatever caused the boy's fear and stress. Usually a short growl was all he'd allow before he brought his self back under control.  
  
However, even when he restrained himself he never had his emotions swing from anger to calm contentment so quickly. He knew, though how he still wasn't certain, that the boy had done something. It was evident in the way the boy had turned to face him fully and how the fear and stress Asami had smelled coming off the boy had been replaced with the same calm contentment he felt now. It had felt like a wave rolling over his senses and wrapping about his mind.  
  
That the boy knew he was sensitive to scratches and strokes behind his left ear, Asami didn't know. That the boy had willingly moved into his arms he reviled over, but when the scratching stopped and the boy tried to leave he tightened his hold and picked Akihito up. He felt the bag of fluids fall from the boy's hands as he was pulled off his feet.  
  
He was too light. He was supposed to be fifteen, but he could easily be mistaken for ten or even younger. Asami could lift him with one arm and only used his other to keep the pup balanced as he carried him to the table where Ryoichi, his grandfather stood. Ryoichi, his father gathered the IV tubing and carried it behind them.  
  
He sat in the chair his grandfather held steady for him and settled the boy in his lap before pushing Akihito's face far enough away from his chest so that they could all look at each other. He frowned when the boy refused to look in his eyes. Ryuichi wasn't going to have that, "You can manipulate emotions, is that because you are an Omega or is it just you?"  
  
Aki snapped his head up from his intense concentration on only looking at the man's pearl buttons and stared into the man's eyes again. "How?"  
  
Asami smirked, "I felt you. It was like a wave passing through my mind and washing away the anger." Which now that Ryuichi thought about it was actually atypical of his response to a problem, he recognized now that the fear the boy had projected first had triggered his own sense of helplessness which Ryuichi had always responded to with anger.  
  
Akihito stiffened in his arms. Asami started stroking the boy's back, "Sush, little pup. I'm angry with the situation and when my anger is mixed with worry I occasionally growl with the frustration." He moved his hand from the boy's back and gripped the back of the boy's head. "I am not angry with you."  
  
Akihito nodded and opened his mouth only to interrupted by the peal of bells through the apartment and the hallow sound of his stomach growling. The Alpha's smirk spread into a wide smile and the man laughed. Two other men at the table joined in and Akihito startled at the three nearly perfectly matching baritones. He glanced at the two men he'd not really taken notice of yet as one rose and crossed the expanse of the living area to open a thick door and admit three people. Akihito glanced at the oldest of the alphas and noted the golden flecks in the old man's brown. When the next oldest returned to the table it was easy to see that the three of them were related.  
  
Weres tended to have lifespans two and half to three times as long as humans. One would think that meant that they would have children later in life but mates were most fertile at their young ages and it was easier to care for pups when one was physically young one's self. Also given that mates still often had difficulties carrying pups to term it was not strange to find three or even four generations of a bloodline in a single pack. What was strange was that the oldest was not the only Alpha.  
  
The title was typically earned by right of battle, though according to his mother the two oldest ōkami clans used different means to declare their leaders. He knew for a fact his clan, the Takabas- relied on his mother's Torc for determining leadership and was the only clan that had been led by females as often as by males. The Torc was always yielded to when choosing their leader regardless of gender or physical strength. That every one of their leaders had been referred to as Omega and not Alpha was a purposeful anomaly.  
  
Aki remembered his mom telling him that the Takaba Alpha was the Omega's true mate which was also chosen by the Torc. Not that it mattered anymore. When his mother's Torc had gone dark at Akihito's birth the clan had apparently panicked until his mother had settled the metal about Akihito's own neck. The glow of the white wolf's green gems had been both relieving and distressing. He was the last of his kind, both Takaba and Omega, and when he slipped his mortal coil both would become the myths they were often spoken as.  
  
Ryuichi frowned down at the boy on his lap. The stress from being called out about his powers had been replaced by sadness. The melancholy that swept out from the boy was easy to control when one recognized it. He looked up across the others in the room with them and changed his mind. Perhaps it was only easy for him to control. Kei and Kazumi frowned deeply, his grandfather and father were tearing and he heard each of them whisper their mate's names. It was the woman in the white lab coat that really honed in the boy's Esper abilities thought. She was openly sobbing while looking completely confused.  
  
Asami gathered the boy to his chest and whispered in his ear lowly. He stroked the boy's spine brushing his palm across the thin back in long passes until the boy relaxed. The sadness the boy felt was quickly replaced by embarrassment and then irritation. Both emotions reined in the projected feelings and gave the others the ability to bring themselves under control.  
  
Kirishima and Suoh glanced at the boy and then away when Asami gave a negative shake of his head. Ryuichi knew that they'd wait for an explanation rather than demand one. Luckily it appeared as if the woman with them didn't realize her tears were caused by an outside source and once she brought herself under control she bowed and introduced herself.  
  
She was the therapist sent by the Pack doctor and though the presence of three Alphas and two Betas clearly made her nervous she smiled at Akihito softly and examined him carefully though thoroughly. She clearly believed him younger than his fifteen years. She was human and Akihito didn't correct her mannerisms as she treated him either. He said nothing as she addressed Ryuichi instead of him in her evaluation results and continued care. Nor did he respond with anything more than a small smile when she patted him on the head as she turned to leave, "Follow your dad's direction Aki-kun and in a few weeks you'll be back to running around and yelling with your friends."  
  
She looked at the Alpha then her eyes skittering past his to focus on the wall over his shoulder after a valiant attempt to look into his piercing gaze. "You make sure he keeps his voice quiet and rests it for the next few days. He's going to want to talk a lot, but you're the one in charge. He's allowed to have soft no acidic foods today and as long as he doesn't act like his throat hurts he can move to regular foods tomorrow. He's healing from the tube quickly so as long as he doesn't appear to be in discomfort he should be fine."  
  
She picked up her bag and smiled at Akihito again, "Don't forget to drink with your head tilted down or with straws today. As long as you don't choke on anything today you can return to drinking regularly tomorrow as well." She patted his head a second time and allowed Suoh to see her back to the door reminding them all that she was just a phone call away should they need her.  
  
While the woman ran Akihito through the throat and facial exercises to evaluate his recovery from being tubed for nearly twelve days, Kirishima changed out the now empty IV bag for two others. One a large clear one like he'd come out of the room with another a dark golden color which the man said was filled with a mixture of vitamins and minerals his blood work said he was still severely low on.  
  
Akihito smiled through the entire visit. When the door closed behind the woman however he turned to look at Asami with a grimace, "You are not my father. You aren't my alpha either so stuff any ideas she just gave you where the sun doesn't shine." He turned to Kirishima then, "You can take this out now. I can't very well go traipsing through Tokyo dragging and IV line behind me."  
  
Asami nearly chuckled when the boy growled lowly in his throat when Kirishima's response to the request was to look at Asami for instruction. His mirth nearly caused him to miss the boy's attempt to pull the IV out himself. The boy had loosened one end of the tape holding the port to his arm before Asami covered his small hand with his own, "Don't do that. Did you ignore what the therapist said? You have at least another day of recovery before you can eat normal foods."  
  
He gently pried the boy's hands from the IV line and brought his fingers to his chest. Akihito looked up at him again and Asami very carefully allowed a bit of the Power of Authority to sound through his voice. "You need to stay here until you are completely well and we are certain that you are no longer in any danger from the Shimo pack or any others."  
  
The anger that boiled off his mate was like a controlled tidal wave. Asami felt it like a physical blow and all of them heard the tickle of the glass and crystal bottles lining the shelves of the wet bar behind where they sat. The physical presence of the boy's powers was so startling Asami released his hold on the boy enough so that Akihito could escape his lap.  
  
The seemed to grow as he stood though Ryuichi could tell it wasn't physical. No the boy's presence merely filled the room overwhelming even that of his, his father's, and his grandfather's presence as Alphas. The force of his personality was so strong that it forced both the other Alphas and Ryuichi's Betas to their knees.  
  
Akihito growled as his anger washed over him. He wasn't an object or a child. He didn't need nor did he want some over bearing egotistical Alpha telling him what he could and couldn't do. He rarely released his emotions with physical manifestations. Even when this wolf had tried to corral him at the Shrine he'd kept his powers in check and had only intended to tell the Alpha off. Oh, he had remembered when the Alpha's glasses wearing Beta had changed out the IV bags. The man whose lap he was sitting in was the same Alpha that had chased him to Nagoya.  
  
Now however, he felt no compunction about releasing the constraints his mother had taught him. He should have loosed them when he was eight and the Alpha threatening his parents had ordered him to submit. He hadn't and he would forever hate himself for the consequences of that fatal choice.  
  
Asami watched in fascination as the air about the boy became an almost living thing. The air spun and grew hotter until a small whirlwind danced about the boy. The papers partially out of the leather satchel on the table were flung into the air and the small Torc spilled out to rattle on the glass table top. The sight of it seemed to feed the boy's ire as he pointed at it, "That is mine; how dare you take it!"  
  
The boy reached for it but instead of the Torc flying towards his out stretched hand the worn photograph of the two blondes that were also in the pouch came instead. It was caught in the whirlwind about the boy and Asami saw it start to tear with the force of the wind. Asami wasn't certain how, but he was certain that the boy would be devastated should anything happen to the image of what his grandfather had said was a picture of the boy's actual parents. He couldn't stand the thought of the pain his mate would feel knowing he'd damaged it. With only the thought of sparing Akihito that pain Ryuichi stepped into the whirlwind holding out the boy's Torc.  
  
The physical manifestation of Akihito's anger and frustration stalled completely. Calm settled across the space as Asami settled the Torc about the boy's neck and twin bright lights flashed from both it and the one about Ryuichi's neck. Gold and green dimmed until it merely glowed about their throats.  
  
Akihito's breath caught in his lungs. It wasn't possible. The gold had never flashed before. How was it possible that the man standing before him was able to ignore his power as easily as he ignored the Alpha's? How could the man be his intended, perfect, mate? How could Amaterasu do this to him?  
  
The events since waking suddenly caught up with him and Aki felt blackness claw at his sight. The last thing he heard was the Alpha whisper in his hair as the wolf caught him. "It will be ok, pup. I'll always keep you safe." 


	10. Promises

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> If you are reading this and have not read chapter nine you are missing one. :-)

Akihito kept hearing voices. Whole conversations went on around him in the darkness. He thought about opening his eyes, but he felt no need. There was a deep thrumming sound under his ear and the bedding he was laying on was soft and rocked like the small boat he'd often hidden in when he wished to escape the house as a child. It had bobbed gently on the incoming waves bumping against the wooden pier. The rise and fall of whatever he rested on now swayed in the same way. Besides the conversations made little sense.  
  
The voices were all some variation of baritone each slightly different from the other. One would rumble from under his ear and it often dragged him back towards the darkness he found himself floating in. He felt warm and comfortable and best of all he felt safe. So he kept his eyes closed and allowed the conversation to wash over him.  
  
"He was shot by one of our Pack?"  
  
"Yes, grandfather. It was an accident. My fault. I had cleared the young man to carry."  
  
"No, Ryuichi, it is truly my fault. I had reservations about him being cleared; I should never have included his name in the approval list. I am still sorry about what happened."  
  
"Stop, Kazumi, it was one's fault but my own, and my mates. Had the boy not flaunted the fact my he is immune to my powers as a Pack Alpha I doubt that one of my guards would have even pulled their gun."  
  
"I would like to point out, sir, that none of the other guards pulled their weapons. The young man was just not ready to carry."  
  
Which, as I've pointed out, makes it my fault………. No, Kazumi don't start. You put your concerns in the report and I determined that they were not strong enough to not clear the man. I'll not make that mistake again. I need to be positive that my mate's guards are not an unintended threat to his safety."  
  
"This doesn't tell me what you did to the poor wolf that shot your mate, son."  
  
"True, I sent him to Siberia. You know the Arbatovs have long needed additional oversight. The young man is actually quite good at deciphering coded messages so I put him where I could use him best."  
  
"Ah, ha, ha, ha. It helps that he's across the Sea of Japan from Akihito, but how do you intend to keep him as part of the pack?"  
  
"I never said I did. Though, it will be the young man's decision and I will not have anyone pushing him. There is a young pack in need of good warriors we're aligned with where I sent him. They don't often get into fights and the ones they do can all be settled by fists. So the young man won't ever have to pick up a gun again."  
  
"Humph, I doubt he'd be able to, sir. You broke his hand crushed every bone in his fingers. I know that his wolf will heal him, but I doubt he'll ever get the vision of your fury out of his head. The gun will never be reparable and you made him keep it."  
  
"It will serve as a reminder."  
  
"Of what, his Alpha's rage?"  
  
"No, of what I could have done. He's lucky he's a pack member. Had he been from another I'd have done more than used his hand to crush his gun."  
  
Akihito slipped back into the blackness. He wasn't certain how much time passed before another conversation pulled him back out. The voices were backed by clinking glasses and the sweet smell of alcohol. It was the voice coming from his mattress that tugged at his consciousness this time.  
  
"I know, Kei. I'll ask when he wakes up. It's not urgent; the pictures weren't published and with the help of our Pack photographer we were able to get the Gala to the front page. Though, Kimio-san insists that Akihito's pictures would have been better. Councilor Satomi's secret is safe."  
  
"I am aware of that sir. However, I must insist that we get the name of his source as soon as possible. Councilor Satomi being a Were-ōkami is highly guarded for a reason. He'd never win an election if the general population knew."  
  
Akihito felt a hand card though is hair and what he identified as a chest rumbled at the voice replied, "I understand. I'll speak to him about that once I'm certain he's not going to run anymore."  
  
"And how do you intend to do that Ryuichi? I have great faith in your ability to lead the Asami Pack as Alpha, yet I find myself amazed that you're incapable of keeping one mate from defying you."  
  
The chest beneath him bounced with the wolf's laugh, "I am amazed by him as well." The hand carded through Akihito's hair again. "I believe he's immune to the 'Authority' granted to each Alpha by leading a pack. If that's part of an Omega's power or something completely unique to Akihito I still don't know. However, he's my mate and whatever accommodations have to be made will be." The chest sighed, "even ones that I don't like. Though I think the boy will be surprised how little I actually rely on the 'Authority'. I was only using it to speed things along."  
  
"Well Kazumi and I can back that up. Until the brat came along you'd only used it one other time. Don't glare at me, Ryuichi, he's a brat. You know it as well as I do. Flipping off an Alpha, regardless of reason is just rude."  
  
Akihito chuckled at that and opened his eyes looking up towards the face of the chest he was curled against. Gold eyes smiled down at him. The man wore a Torc. It looked to be an exact replica of the one about his own throat a weight that set comfortably against the base of his throat. Both sets of gems in both neck pieces glowed softly.  
  
The voice reverberated through the man's chest as he pulled his hand out of Aki's hair, around to his cheek, and stroked Akihito's lips with his thumb, "Good evening, pup. Do you think you could eat something now?"  
  
Aki pushed his self up so he was sitting in the man's lap instead of curled in it. The wolf, he now knew was Asami Ryuichi, laid a heavy arm across his legs. Aki frowned at him briefly and then looked around the room they were in. They were sitting in the overly large and thickly stuffed white leather chairs that faced the largest TV Akihito had ever seen. It was the central seating area of the penthouse he'd woken in earlier.  
  
He glanced out the windows and realized it was completely dark outside. He wondered briefly how long he'd been passed out for he knew that was what had happened. He'd forgotten how exhausted using his powers always made him. It was worse than when he ran as a wolf. The Shimo Beta always laughed about that. Akihito had never been able to keep up with the pack when they hunted and his revulsion at killing had long made him the butt of the pack's jokes.  
  
The darkness outside windows and the fact his IV had been removed completely at some point meant that several hours had probably passed. He felt a warm hand on his cheek again and allowed it to turn his gaze back to the Alpha's. Asami spoke again, "Are you hungry? Kirishima fetched several bowls of soup and porridge for you."  
  
Akihito opened his mouth to reply only for his stomach to answer for him. The empty organ made itself known in the most embarrassing way possible. The wolf under him laughed before gesturing to the man in glasses. "Kirishima will bring you a bowl, which do you want Miso or porridge?"  
  
His face flush he ducked his gaze, "porridge, please."  
  
The wolf in glasses left and Asami gently maneuvered Akihito to the floor. A small zabuton also in white leather was positioned near the coffee table where Aki found himself suddenly presented with a deep bowl, a tea pot and a tea cup. Steam rose from the tea pot and the bowl. His stomach growled again, "Itadakimasu!" He pulled the bowl closer and picked up the spoon.  
  
The porridge turned out to actually be Zosui and Akihito wondered if the others had eaten Yosenabe earlier. Part of him was disappointed he'd missed the hot pot, but the porridge had bits of carrots, daikon radishes, mushrooms and what Akihito decided was sea bass in it. The soup was thick with the rice and beaten egg filling his mouth with flavor and his empty stomach with warmth. All too soon however he had emptied the bowl and finished the tea. He set the spoon down and thanked the man with the glasses for the food.  
  
The man bowed and reached for the bowl, "Would you like some more?"  
  
Asami watched Akihito hesitate before shaking his head 'no'. He caught Kirishima's eyes and nodded then spoke, "You should really eat some more if you can stand to do so." He smiled at the boy when he looked back at him, "You need the calories and the protein."  
  
Akihito frowned. He was really hungry and it wasn't like he had to pay for the food. He glanced at the glasses wearing wolf and nodded, "If getting another bowl isn't too much trouble."  
  
"Not at all, Akihito-kun." The man slipped pass a long marble topped peninsula into what could only be the kitchen considering he emerged very shortly with a second filled bowl of the Zosui. He sat it down asking, "Would you like some more tea?"  
  
Aki paused while picking up the spoon and looked up, "Um, if it's not too much trouble could I just get a glass of water?" Conversation resumed around him as he ate the second bowl. Though, it was both clear and rather uncomfortable that the group watched him eat. He swallowed the last bit, thanked the wolf in glasses again and shook his head firmly when asked if he was certain that was all he wanted. "Yes, I really shouldn't eat any more. I don't want to eat so much I get sick. Though, it was good enough that I usually wouldn't mind trying." He smiled up at the wolf that nodded and took the bowl away. He brought back a fresh glass of water when he returned and Akihito thanked him again.  
  
The conversation while he'd eaten his second bowl of Zosui had centered on Pack politics. The other elders apparently were pushing for the young Alpha to mate. The Alpha proclaimed them all a bunch of old busy bodies that should mind their own business. The two older Alphas reminded him that he couldn't ignore the Torc forever. To which he'd just tisked in irritation.  
  
Now that Akihito was through eating he stared at the glass in his hands. He wasn't quite certain what to do or how he should act. Both the Asami Alpha's Torc and his own were quite clear about what Amaterasu wanted. What Akihito was supposed to do about it he had no idea.  
  
Quiet settled around him as his thoughts bounced from question to question. He didn't want to belong to an Alpha; in the Takaba pack the Alphas had belonged to the Omega. Would it even work that way now that he was the last of his blood line? Would Asami Ryuichi even recognize his designation or would the old wolf demand to be in charge. Akihito knew he could give the Asami clan at least one child and didn't he have a duty to the Takaba blood line as well? He was the only Omega left.  
  
His stomach twisted; he wasn't ready for this, was he? He still hadn't even kissed anyone yet; what he knew of sex was the little he'd learned from the biology his mom taught him nearly three years ago from a thick science book that covered, biology, chemistry, and geology. That hadn't covered what he needed to know as an Omega Were-ōkami. His mother had died when he was not even eight was there something special he'd need to do to get pregnant? He wasn't ready for this!  
  
Yet, the Torcs were clear and he'd taken that oath to follow Amaterasu's directions for the good of his clan and all of the Were-ōkami so long ago that he couldn't even remember the words. He did remember the feeling of rightness that had settled over his heart though. He was a servant of Amaterasu first and as her only living Omega it was not just his duty but his privilege to obey the goddess. He peeked up at the Alpha, but Asami Ryuichi had another thing coming if he thought Takaba Akihito was just going to roll over and present himself to the Alpha. He might be submissive to Amaterasu that didn't mean he was submissive to anyone else.  
  
Asami gestured for the others to leave him and Akihito alone. His Betas quietly left the apartment to return to their own one floor below. His father and grandfather took themselves out to the wide terrace beyond the sitting and bar area and through a set of sliding glass doors.  
  
He watched as the boy leaned heavily on the living area's coffee table and twisted the glass of water in his hands with palatable anxiety. It was a wonder his father and grandfather hadn't started growling with the tension the air about the boy had developed. Asami however felt relieved that he was immune to the effects of his boy's powers when he knew what was going on. It was also nice to know that regardless of what the boy learned as he grew Asami was pretty certain Akihito'd never be able to hide much if anything from him.  
  
The boy's thoughts were nearly transparent on his expressive face. Worry and tension soon settled into determination. The boy turned and opened his lips only for Asami to interrupt, "I have no intentions of bedding a child, so you can stop worrying about it."  
  
The boy snapped his mouth shut then gritted his teeth, "I'm not a child! I'm fifteen. It would be perfectly legal. Besides we'll be spouses in less than a year."  
  
"Nine months, Akihito. It will be nine months before you turn sixteen. Not that I'll bed you then either."  
  
Aki jumped to his feet. "What!? Why not!?"  
  
"What kind of adult has sex with someone that can't even drink alcohol? You're twelve years younger than me, are you telling me you want to have sex now? You know that once we do you'll likely become pregnant. At least if what my father and grandfather believe about you is true. Tell me can you give me children?" Asami chuckled.  
  
"Of course I can. It's part of what I am." He glared at the Alpha, "How dare you treat this like a joke. I don't know about you, but I intend to follow our goddess' instructions. Amaterasu has declared you my true mate. It is my job to become your Omega and you my Alpha. The Pack I mate into will be blessed by the goddess herself."  
  
"Blessed?" Asami leaned forward, "So far all you've brought is a Shimo pack enforcer and a pack of questions." He knew he sounded irritated. Part of him was, but it wasn't with the boy. The child in front of him was too young to understand what he was giving up. He may not know what the boy thought getting mated was but Asami did. Once they marked each other neither would be able to be more than a few miles from each other for longer than a couple of days until one of them was dead.  
  
Even then it would take years and hopefully the needs of a child to keep the survivor sane. The loss of one of their pups was hard enough on a pack. When it was followed by the mother often the father was not long behind them. No, the boy had no idea what it meant to be mated or how devastating to the pack when it lost not just one but three of their members. How much worse would it be for the Asami pack to lose their Alpha? It was well understood by the more progressive packs that the longer bearers waited to produce pups the more likelihood that not only the mothers but the pups would survive. Based on the boy's statements he had no idea what might await him should they mate now.  
  
Besides, the boy would lose any chance of having the childhood he deserved. He was fifteen; he should be attending high school, cutting up in PE and getting detention for sneaking up on the school's roof to take photos of the nearest skyline. He should not be contemplating getting pregnant and raising pups. It was Ryuichi's job as the boy's destined mate to see that the pup's every need was seen to. Having children at fifteen or sixteen didn't meet those, regardless of the boy's thoughts on the matter.  
  
Akihito however now looked crushed and as much as Ryuichi felt it would be best for the boy to dislike him, at least a little, at this stage in his life. Distress wasn't something he was willing to allow his future mate to endure. He sighed and pulled the boy onto his lap. The boy refused to meet his eyes instead choosing to stare at the buttons on his shirt and worry at his lower lip. He sighed again, it was something he'd found himself doing a lot in the past several hours. "Akihito, look at me."  
  
Akihito didn't want to look up. He'd never thought about the possibility of his destined mate not wanting him. Sure, he wasn't some simpering weakling looking for a big strong Alpha to take care of him, but he had always looked forward to meeting his mate someday. That Amaterasu had introduced them before he was even old enough to vote was disappointing yes, but that didn't mean he wasn't sill looking forward to the event. Was he supposed to be relieved Asami Ryuichi didn't want him? Was that want the easing of the stress eating at his stomach meant?  
  
He felt the Alpha tug on his chin and reluctantly allowed the wolf to tilt his face until they looked each other in the eyes. Asami sighed again, "I will not bed you while you are still so very young." He frowned at the look of disappointment on the boy's face and caught the boy's attempt to back away by placing his other arm around the boy's back. "That does not mean that I won't ever bed you."  
  
Aki sucked in a deep breath in surprise, "I don't understand."  
  
Asami smirked, "It means pup, that someday you'll be an adult and may Amaterasu help you when you become one. The goddess gave you to me and I promised myself long ago that I wouldn't settle for anyone less than my deity chosen mate. When the time is right I will make you mine and Akihito-kun?"  
  
Akihito found his self breathless. His heart was beating faster than it did when he ran from the guards that often chased him when he got candid shots for the newspaper. The alpha's eyes held a promise he couldn't identify but left him really wanting to find out what it meant. "Yes?"  
  
"In our world, I hold your freedom in my hands. I may not be marking you for years but you belong to me and I don't take kindly to other's touching what is mine."  
  
The following weeks passed in mostly a blur. At least that would be how Akihito would describe them should someone ask years later. The first couple of days were the most emotionally stressful Aki would ever remember. Asami introduced him to the Alpha's father and grandfather. Who were both former alphas of the Asami pack. He'd been formerly introduced to Asami's Beta's Kirishima Kei and Suoh Kazumi. The Pack doctor made several visits and asked numerous embarrassing questions and drew enough blood to convince Aki that the man was really a vampire and not a wolf then came the questions.  
  
They wanted to know how he knew to photograph Councilor Satomi and the Alpha got really irritated when Akihito refused to tell them. Sources were sacred to journalism and Akihito refused to be known as the one that gave a good one up. He did tell them that his source was human and that he was certain the source didn't know Councilor Satomi was a Were-okami. The source had thought he was sending Akihito out to photograph a city councilor meeting up with a prostitute. The worst part of that exchange was that Kirishima didn't believe him and Asami had to all but order his Beta to back off. It made Aki feel strange. On one hand he was pleased that his destined Alpha sided with him. On the other he felt horrible to be the cause of strife between two wolves that otherwise displayed nothing but respect to each other.  
  
While the minor disagreement between the Asami alpha and beta consumed his thoughts. Ryuichi was also trying to learn what he could about Akihito's life between his supposed death at not yet eight and his sudden reappearance as a run away from the Shimo pack.  
  
This was the hardest conversation for Akihito. First because there wasn't much he remembered about the cause of his parents deaths. Beyond remembering the heat of the flames, choking smoke, and complete darkness he only knew that he'd been in a wine barrel in the pack cellar. His parents, Shiro, Masakado Kiko and Daichi's son, and Kiko were playing 'Hunt the Rabbit' and it had been his turn to hide the stuffed fur. He'd left his parents and Shiro on the third floor of the house sitting in the media room where he'd started the trail Kiko had gone down to the Kitchen to fetch them all some drinks and snacks.  
  
He hated telling this story; he hated reliving it. He hated re-hearing the sounds of gunfire and mistaking it for fireworks going off outside and the bang of the window shutters. Kiko came running down the stairs to the basement and he'd been so mad she'd ruined the hunt and so hurt and frightened when she'd slapped her hand over his mouth and shoved him into an empty wine barrel.  
  
He was in tears, curled up in Asami's lap, and surrounded by Asami's arms by the time he got to that portion of the story. It seemed a rival ōkami clan had bribed the pilot of the delivery chopper. They rode the delivery to the landing pad and started shooting as soon as they disembarked killing most of the small pack before they ever breached the building.  
  
Masakado Kiko had secured the Takato heir and rushed to try and save her own child and Leaders after picking up the shotgun they kept for hunting pheasants. She and her husband however were to late Akihito's parents and their son had already been shot and the invaders had spread gasoline and set the sleeping quarters of the Pack building on fire. While the two Betas were able to kill the handful of wolves that came that day the damage had been done. It took them nearly twelve hours to put out the fire and all Akihito could remember was the tears on both their faces when Kiko finally pulled the lid off the barrel. It was why he couldn't sleep with the lights fully off anymore.  
  
The Masakado's hadn't even waited on finding the bodies of his parents or their son. Daichi put an older pack member in charge of clean up, made several calls, and then flew Akihito and Kiko via the delivery chopper to Hokkaidō. Akihito didn't know how Daichi knew the Shimo pack leader, but they moved into the government house furthest from the actual pack they could and Akihito learned how to survive in a small village where there was no running water, electricity, and very little available gas.  
  
"Mom and Dad did the best they could. Mom made sure I got new school books every year and Dad taught me how to use his camera. They taught me to not use my powers and keep them suppressed, but the Shimo pack alpha started visiting us regularly when I turned twelve." Akihito shuddered during the Shimo pack portion of the story, "He liked to rub my hair in his fingers." He looked at Asami, "Mom told Dad we were going to have to leave. She didn't trust the alpha then when I refused to go with the old wolf on the night of the Autumn equinox he tried to use his power of authority on me."  
  
Akihito buried his face in Asami's chest as he confessed, "I should have done as he ordered; the other youths in the village all went to him for 'Saisho no yoru no kenri'. If I had given him what he wanted, maybe Mom and Dad would still be alive."  
  
Asami spent several hours consoling his mate. Once the boy had cried his eyes out he was exhausted. Asami put him in the guest room he'd been using since coming to the penthouse. Then Asami went and spoke to his grandfather and father about the need to eliminate the Shimo pack. Practicing 'Saisho no yoru no kenri' or 'right of the first night' with known breeders was bad enough but to use the position as Alpha to rape the entirety of his pack's children was unforgivable.  
  
Ryoichi nodded, "It is time to call the more insular packs out. All their actions are doing is making us look more like animals than thinking people." He shared a look with his father and Rinichi nodded in agreement. "Your grandfather and I will secure the backing of our oldest allies." He glared at Ryuichi then, "I know you feel the need to avenge the deaths of your mate's parents, even if it is only the ones that raised him, but don't move on the Shimo pack until we've ensured the support of the other packs, skulks, and flights. Japan cannot afford a full scale war among any of it's Were populations."  
  
Ryuichi growled, "I do hope that doesn't mean I can't do something about the Shimo pack enforcer roaming about my city."  
  
Ryoichi laughed, "Of course not, it just means you'll have to do so with discretion." This caused all three Alphas to laugh.  
  
Rinichi smiled at his son and grandson then sobered, "Now, tell us what you plan to do about your young mate, Ryuichi? Your father and I both know you've no plans to bed the boy until he's an adult. What are you going to do. He can't live here. One, the longer the two of you reside in the same home the harder you will both find it to keep your hands off each other. Two, it will take months to get everyone to agree to support your calling out the Shimo pack Alpha. It hasn't been done in nearly a hundred years. Where will you hide the boy in the meantime?"  
  
"In plain sight." Ryuichi smiled at the looks of confusion on his father's and grandfather's faces. "He's a devout follower of Amaterasu but the Shimo pack will never think to look for him in one of her shrines."  
  
"And it will give him a chance to make friends his own age while growing up away from your power base. Enabling you to filter as many false leads on the boy's whereabouts as you feel needed all while directing the Shimo pack away from Nagoya."  
  
"Yes. I've already spoken to the Shrine priest and he and his wife are looking forward to housing the boy for the next few years. We're working out how Akihito's guards will be worked into his life unobtrusively." Ryuichi glanced at the door behind which his mate slept. "He'll never be left alone again." 


	11. Compromise

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A HUGE thank you to [SmutWritersGoddess](https://archiveofourown.org/users/SmutWritersGoddess) for being my Beta reader, language editor, grammar Nazi, and punctuation dominatrix. I really do need all of these and she is wonderful. Going forward my chapters may actually make sense.

"Stubborn" was the nicest word Asami could use to describe his destined mate. "Irrational" was closer to the mark, though "mulish," "obstinate," and "pigheaded" were all becoming close seconds. The biggest problem was that the boy honestly thought he was being perfectly reasonable. He literally saw no danger to him staying and attending school in Tokyo. He also loudly protested Asami's decision that Akihito would stop taking late night stakeout work from the paper. Any paper.  
  
Which was the only reason, Asami was standing in his living room arguing with a fifteen-year-old instead of just tying said teenager up and delivering the pup where Asami wanted him to be. It had nothing to do with what the boy insisted were perfectly sound reasons for him not doing as Asami had instructed.  
  
Akihito ground his teeth together. Alpha Asami, or "bastard" as he was now called with regular occurrence, had started ignoring him. He knew the second the old wolf had stopped listening and tuned Aki out. He also knew that the bastard thought Akihito believed him to be listening. It was just one of the more irritating things the man did. At first, Akihito was so overwhelmed about the events surrounding finding his destined mate that whenever the wolf reached the point where he stopped listening, Aki would back down.  
  
They argued a lot, and if the matter wasn't of great importance, Aki would often just concede to the older wolf. He hated being surrounded by strife. Uneasy and uncomfortable emotions were louder and harder to shield against. His mom had taught him that his gift was intended to aid his Alpha in keeping his pack cohesive and emotionally stable. However, Akihito didn't like influencing others without consent. The Shimo Pack Alpha had used his Authority to force compliance, often in emotionally humiliating and physically painful ways.  
  
Aki could still remember the face of one child the Pack Alpha had forced compliance from. The youngster had snuck out after curfew and gone rabbit hunting. He'd only wanted to get fresh meat for his younger sister. He had been caught bringing the kill back to the pack's pup home by one of the enforcers. The next morning, the Shimo pack Betas summoned everyone to the village center. Akihito remembers his mom and dad muttering to themselves and holding Aki back from trying to join the shorter children near the raised platform that was always there. They'd protested when the enforcers had gone through the crowd and insisted that all the children were required to watch from the front row.  
  
The child had been tied naked to the central stock with his toes scrambling on the snowy ground for purchase. The Shimo Pack Alpha had told the collected group that he might seem cruel for forcing such a young pup into the stocks. However, the pup had broken the most sacred of the pack laws. He had hunted without adult supervision. The health and safety of the pack's quarry was too important to allow the pup's age to change or postpone the prescribed punishment.  
  
Aki had watched in horror as the Alpha, a wolf easily three times larger than his victim, raised the bullwhip and brought it down on the pup's bare back. Fifty lashes was the official punishment for hunting prey out of season. Hot anger had rolled in Aki's stomach and, without realizing it, he'd loosed the feeling across the crowd behind him. The group, already disturbed by what they were witnessing, surged forward in angry panic.  
  
The Shimo pack had twelve enforcers. They were spread around the fiftyish lower ranking pack members to watch for anyone specifically calling out against or physically moving against their Alpha. The pack as a whole was fairly submissive with the physically strongest always pulled to be enforcers, which gained them special privileges, including extra shares of food. The physically weakest were shoved into servile positions and often denied basic necessities unless the Alpha, his two Betas, or an enforcer provided for them. The pack had lived with the system for so long they saw little wrong with the structure.  
  
So it was with complete shock that the crowd moved in anger against the Alpha. The pack enforcers almost failed to contain the surging crowd. Aki was certain that had the crowd not pushed him to the ground and almost trampled him causing his anger to be overridden by actual physical fear, that the pack enforcers wouldn't have succeeded.  
  
Still, they cuffed, smacked, and battered the crowd back from the Alpha. The Alpha wolf had growled, but Aki still remembers believing the old wolf had actually been pleased. He had the enforcers pull up two of the adults in the front row and lock them into the stocks on either side of Aki's friend. They were freshly matted the previous spring, and their mates had delivered healthy pups nine weeks before that cold winter morning.  
  
The Shimo Alpha looked across the now subdued pack and snarled. None of them were strong enough to lead yet they'd tried to attack him. Still, he'd seemed to relent telling the pack that the two men would take the pup's punishment. Neither of the two men survived the beating. The Shimo alpha kept his whip coated with a mixture of wolf's bane and his own saliva. Both prevented a were from healing as quickly as they should when applied to wounds individually. The combination was pure poison.  
  
Akihito had been eleven when he watched as a pack enforcer dragged the boy from the stage. Aki had helped the old woman that oversaw the pack pup cottage ensure that the boy and his sister got food in the days that followed. He'd also played with them even though the rest of the pups ostracized them both. All the orphaned pups had feared being associated with the boy. Akihito hadn't cared.  
  
Then one morning, Aki found the two of them were gone. He'd begged the old woman to tell him where they were, but she'd just kicked him out of the cottage and told him to never come back. He'd searched the village and surrounding area for hours. Only by luck did he come upon the two being pushed into the back of the pack's van. The two children were never seen again.  
  
He'd told his mom and dad how the Shimo Beta and one of the pack enforcers had driven the van out of the village. It was the following summer that the Shimo alpha started visiting their house every week and the following autumn that Akihito had refused to go with the Alpha for "Saisho no yoru no kenri.'" His parents had started talking about leaving the pack immediately after and became doubly vigilant that Aki knew their escape procedures should something happen. Aki hadn't known how soon he'd have to use them.  
  
Still, what the Asami Alpha wanted him to do was too important to allow his memories of the past to derail his arguments, and he'd be damned if he allowed the older wolf's tendency to treat him like a child to continue. He took a deep breath and let it out slowly. He might be only fifteen, and he might not know as much about the world as his destined mate, but he did know that they couldn't go on like this. Aki would break long before he gave in about his freedom.  
  
He made an effort to uncross his arms and lower them to his sides. The less tense he was, the less tense Asami would be. They needed to talk and to communicate, "If you would just explain why. I'm not a toddler that requires babysitters to get me from point A to point B every day. I've walked, ran, and bussed over the bulk of Tokyo. Why can't I continue living here?"  
  
Asami looked down at Akihito. The boy, who had been all but yelling at him a few seconds ago, had uncrossed his arms and lowered them to his sides. He quieted his voice, and he'd almost whispered his question. The whole thing made Asami sigh again. He wasn't used to being asked his reasons.  
  
Ryuichi was the Asami pack Alpha and Executive owner of Sion, both the club that held the name and the parent company he'd started and ran since nineteen. The business partners he'd worked with since starting Sion had learned to stop asking for his reasons years ago, and the men that reported to him directly in both pack and corporate business had similarly stopped expecting them. Kirishima and Suoh occasionally warranted them when they were expected to represent his decisions to other Packs, Sulks, or Flights they worked with, but even they didn't typically ask for one.  
  
Had his mate been older he might have just provided his reasons before he'd issued his orders. However, Akihito was still young. The legal age of majority in Japan was twenty-one and being fifteen was the biggest reason Asami wanted the boy out of Tokyo and safely ensconced in Nagoya. He needed to be out of the penthouse before their proximity to each other triggered the boy's heat, which according to his fathers could happen at any time considering the boy was Omega and yearly seasons played no part in his reproductive cycle. Ryuichi refused to trigger a life-changing event in the boy when he was still so very young. Not that he was going to tell his mate that.  
  
He sighed again and said, "You know the Shimo pack is still hunting you. I know you think Tokyo is too large for them to find you, but the reality is that it isn't as large as you think. Practically, the whole city is wired with cameras and audio. The Shimo pack enforcer may not know how to access those systems himself, but he certainly could hire someone to do it for him." He reached out and cupped Akihito's cheek, pulling until the boy looked up at him, "Nagoya is safer. With you there, I can ensure the wrong information reaches the Shimo pack and guide them away from you with false leads."  
  
Aki placed one of his own hands on top of Asami's before saying, "I can agree with the idea, but what about my job?"  
  
"You don't need a job. You are my mate, and I will provide for you."  
  
That was apparently the wrong thing to say. Asami watched as his mate's eyes filled with fire. The green in his hazel expanded rapidly so that his eyes nearly glowed before the boy jerked back with a glare. "I need out of this apartment. I am going stir crazy in here, and I have a job!"  
  
Asami could hear Akihito trying to repress the growl coming from his throat and sighed again, "Akihito, this is not up for discussion. You will be entering high school in a couple of weeks and you will not have time to go leaping over rooftops to chase some story." He turned then and started putting on his suit jacket, "Besides it is too dangerous for my mate to be photographing Yakuza and political ingrates."  
  
Aki wanted to scream, but he didn't, just barely. He watched in silence as his destined partner for life garbed himself in the last of his work suit. He listened without responding as the man explained that he would be late returning that evening but that Kirishima would ensure a meal was provided at their regular dinner time. Akihito was to be good and not give his guards any trouble. Oh, and he wasn't to leave the penthouse for any reason.  
  
Aki waited several seconds after the door shut behind Asami before stomping away from the genkan, into the large living room, and picking up a thick, cream throw pillow from one of the bright teal, oversized, overstuffed chairs. He placed the pillow on the floor and then kicked it with a primal scream.  
  
The front door slammed open. Two men pointed their drawn guns into the space with questioning eyes. Once they saw that Akihito was alone and unharmed, they holstered their weapons and one of the two returned to guard the outside of the penthouse. The second entered the apartment and closed the door behind him.  
  
Oshiro watched his charge for several seconds before approaching and asking, "Is everything well, Takaba-sama?"  
  
Aki screamed again, this time at the ceiling. Then he closed the remaining distance between himself and the wolf he had been introduced to as the head of his security detail, "No! Nothing is well. Your boss is an insufferable bastard that believes he's the only one who can protect himself! I am ready to crawl up these walls and he's told you to not let me out of the penthouse!"  
  
Oshiro nodded, "Correct, Takaba-sama, while the Shimo pack enforcer is about, you are not allowed to leave the penthouse without Asami-sama at your side." He stepped away from his charge and moved towards the kitchen, "Would you like some tea? I am aware that you are feeling cooped up. Perhaps a warm cup would ease your nerves?"  
  
Aki screamed again, and then he yelled, "No! A cup of tea will not ease my nerves!" He glared at his guard and stomped back into his room, slamming the door behind him.  
  
He paced the width of it twice. He flung himself on his bed and spent several seconds screaming into his pillow. Then he spent several satisfying seconds punching that same pillow while pretending it was his mate's face. When none of that worked, he took out his camera and photographed the amazing view, filling the camera's memory.  
  
There was something about holding his dad's camera that always calmed him. His dad had told him stories about his father. How his dad and father had traveled the world, chasing the next big story. His father had been a world published journalist while his dad's pictures had graced more than just his best friend's articles. Akihito had tried to be a journalist like his father, but he'd always preferred the camera.  
  
He'd worried about that when he was younger. He was the only one left, and he'd believed he really should ensure that both sets of his parents were honored in some way during his life. Reality though, was a brutal teacher, and he'd soon learned that, while he always got paid for his photographs, his accompanying articles were often rewritten or sometimes even completely replaced by the work of better wordsmiths.  
  
It didn't take long to fill the memory on the device, but he'd fill it then scroll through the images and discard any he didn't want to keep before taking more. He did this several times until all that was left were images he felt could be turned into paying photos. He dropped the camera onto his bed. The session had been cathartic, and he knew what he had to do— And escaping the penthouse was only the first step.  
  
Asami's father and grandfather had laughed when Oshiro had called in to tell them that Akihito had escaped. He'd apparently pulled the fire suppression system up and figured out it had been routed right alongside the building's air duct system. Oshiro had hoped he'd catch the boy in the system only to find that it was an empty set of clothing. Based on the lingering smell, it appeared his mate changed into his wolf-form halfway down the building.  
  
He'd stopped his elder's mirth with the reminder that the Shimo pack enforcer was still combing Tokyo for the boy and that he'd already found the boy's old apartment. He hadn't told the boy because every mention of the Shimo pack had caused his mate's natural scent became muddied with fear.  
  
He told Kirishima to cancel his remaining appointments for the day and headed home. During the limo ride back, Oshiro called and explained how Akihito had left the building via the basement service entrance. He'd not even tried to hide from the cameras. He'd been in his wolf form and carrying a very small bundle of clothing.  
  
Once back at the high-rise, Asami quickly changed into his wolf-form and allowed Kazumi to harness and leash him. He was too large to follow the boy's path through the ducts. However, once on the street, he was able to track the boy farther than Oshiro could, though he lost the trail at the train platform.  
  
When he and his third arrived back at the penthouse, he was less than patient while Suoh removed the leash, harness, and collar they used to aid in the fiction they were just really large dogs when traveling in wolf form during the day. Once free, he didn't even bother to change as he shouldered his way into the boy's room. He pulled in a deep breath. It smelled of the peaches in his boy's shampoo and the underlying heady aroma of well-aged Italian wine that was his boy's personal scent. Akihito's camera lay at the end of the narrow bed.  
  
The sight of it helped to quell the nauseating fear that crawled through him. Akihito planned on coming back. Asami knew that, other than the boy's torc, the camera was the only other item he'd never leave a place without. He picked it up and scrolled through the images it stored. According to the time stamps, they were all taken just hours before the boy had run.  
  
The images at the beginning of the shoot were stark and captured the sharp planes of the closest buildings. Many were centered on the steel beams and concrete block corners and very detailed. Later, they moved to take in the surrounding sky, including the birds and planes and distant trees. Two were very telling to his mate's state of mind.  
  
The very first image was a focused photograph of the thin seams between the large panes of glass that made the floor to ceiling windows of his boy's room. The image made the seams look like thick metal bars breaking up the otherwise amazing view. The last image was of a small hawk. It was alone in the sky, wings spread and obviously rising on a warm updraft of wind. One was of a prison, the other of freedom. Though, it was most telling that while the bird was the focus of the last image, the window seams still looked like bars.  
  
It was a lack of guards that surprised him. He'd been gone for several hours. His first stop had been to his favorite noodle shop. The meals Asami had catered into the penthouse were gastronomic delights and worthy of the five-star chefs he employed to make them. Yet, there was something to be said for the simple flavor and quantity of street vendor fare. His favorite noodle shop might never grace the cover of a foodie magazine, but it was tasty, filling, and cheap. Then he'd spent several hours at a nearby park where a daycare had taken their charges for a picnic. He'd played with the children, and then he'd headed home.  
  
It was a word that made him pause as he raised his hand to knock on the door. "Home" wasn't a word he'd used since the helicopter ride that carried him away from the Takaba pack lands. Even after years of living on the edge of the Shimo pack village, he'd only ever called the small two-bedroom, one-bathroom building he'd resided in: "house." Yet, here he was thinking of Asami's penthouse apartment high over central Chiyoda as "home." He laughed at himself as he knocked.  
  
Asami had been told his boy was on his way up the elevator. He'd sent the door guards and his father downstairs. He and Akihito needed to talk. He crossed the living room when he heard the knock at the door frowning when he opened it to find Akihito. "Why didn't you just come in?" He held the door as Akihito swept past him.  
  
"You never gave me a key."  
  
Asami's frown deepened, "Sure, I did." He watched as Akihito knelt and untied his tennis shoes. They were scuffed and worn and must have been in the bag with the other old clothes the boy had not donned since Asami had moved him into the penthouse.  
  
Akihito looked up from where he knelt and shook his head, "Nope. It is not like I've needed one."  
  
Asami looked away from the hurt in his mate's eyes, feeling his stomach twist with the knowledge that he'd put it there. He walked towards the living area, "We need to talk."  
  
Aki sighed and braced for the lecture he was certain Asami was about to dish out. He'd only wanted space. The penthouse, as luxurious as it was, felt like a prison with guards at the doors and regularly scheduled planned meals included. Part of Aki was surprised that his mate hadn't insisted on picking his clothes. Though when he was feeling less perturbed with the man, he thanked Amaterasu Asami was not that controlling.  
  
He dragged his feet as he entered the living area but still crossed the space between genkan and the large chair across the room in which Asami sat when the man held out his hand. He came to a stop between the man's knees and found himself searching the man's eyes as he felt two strong arms wrap loosely about his hips.  
  
"Akihito, why did you sneak out this afternoon?"  
  
The search of the man's eyes revealed nothing and his emotions were tightly controlled so Aki could not tell if the underlying currents between them were from what Asami was feeling or what he personally felt. It irritated him. The one person he needed to be able to read— And he couldn't. He didn't want to fight, but he wasn't about to let the man control his life any longer.  
  
Perhaps the torc was wrong? His parents had never fought, at least his memories said as much. He and Asami fought more than they talked. His mom and dad had the occasional disagreement, but he never once heard or saw his dad try to control his mom's movements. He almost smiled at the thought; his mom would have kicked his dad's butt for even suggesting he could.  
  
Aki looked at Asami; that was probably part of the problem. The man was just too old, too handsome, too smart, just too everything. How was he, Akihito, to compete? He needed space and purpose of his own to match the man. Hell, just to be able to meet him halfway.  
  
"Akihito?"  
  
Asami's voice made him refocus. "I just wanted to get out." He took a deep breath then, "And to prove I was capable of taking care of myself."  
  
"Is that what you believe I think?" Asami's voice sounded curious instead of angry.  
  
The irritation that often filled his words was missing. Even better, the tone that always led Aki to feel more tolerated than respected was also missing. It made him pause before responding. A dozen reasons why he'd snuck out leaped to his thoughts, but he shunted them to the side. Being flippant wasn't going to help whatever was preventing Asami and him from talking instead of arguing.  
  
He looked up from where he'd been watching himself twist and fiddle with his own fingers. His eyes were caught by his mate's golden stare. It was intense and all-encompassing. He'd seen that look when he was talking to others. The man devoting total attention to whomever he was speaking to. He'd only given that amount of attention to Akihito a couple of previous times. Both had left Aki uncomfortable. He couldn't possibly measure up to the man's expectations.  
  
Asami sighed to himself. Akihito had first refused to look at him and then once he'd asked his question the boy had started playing with his fingers watching them fidget like the answer to the universe could be found in their random wiggles. He'd been about to ask his question again when his mate had looked up and captured his eyes. Akihito's eyes were filled with doubt and desperation.  
  
He gripped the boy's hips and pulled him on to his lap. He sat Akihito across his legs with both knees tucked under his right arm and the boy's head tucked close to his chest. Asami allowed his worry over his mate's long-term health to distract him from the boy's scent. It was getting harder to ignore his body's response to the boy's presence. He intentionally thought about catching either Kei or Kazumi exiting the gym showers. It was a rather effective deterrent seeing as he'd never thought of either of them as anything other than friends.  
  
Akihito finally said, "I don't know what you think." Asami felt him shrug, "You don't share your thoughts. You just question and order." He pushed back against Asami's chest huffing when Asami refused to allow him to disconnect the forced cuddle. "Fine! I know you think I'm a child." He pressed his face to Asami's chest. "I know I'll never measure up to your expectations. You wish Amaterasu had given you someone better, don't you?"  
  
That was not something that Asami thought at all. He gripped the boy's chin and forced him to look up. "You are my destined mate, Akihito. You will always be the best match for me from all the lives that live on this planet. Amaterasu picked you for me and me for you." He sighed aloud then, "I know you believe you can protect yourself. I can admit that you were doing as well as you could on your own. However, now that I know about you, my wolf will settle for nothing less than ensuring you are nurtured, nourished, prosperous, and protected."  
  
Akihito pushed until Asami let him sit up. He glared at his mate, "That is a cop-out. Your wolf won't settle. You sound like the backward Alpha of the Shimo pack. 'My wolf demands respect.' You're not a beast, Asami. You are a rational thinking being capable of overcoming your baser conceptions and responding like the adult you are supposed to be."  
  
"True. I am a rational, thinking adult. I have nearly fifteen years of experience on you. I am almost old enough to be your father. But I'm not, and I refuse to treat you as my child."  
  
"You could have fooled me. You give me orders and restrict my movements like a parent." Aki crossed his arms and glared harder, "You use our age difference to justify your belief I can't take care of myself, just admit it."  
  
"No, I use our age difference to understand that, while you might be able to stay under the radar for a short while, your chosen profession and poor living situation deprives you of several things I know you deserve. I also know these things are true because of your age and not your skill." He tugged on Akihito's arms until the boy allowed Asami to hold both of his small hands in one of his larger. "You deserve the proper time to grow into yourself physically and mentally before I claim you."  
  
"That doesn't explain the restrictions or why you insist I leave Tokyo and live in a Kitsune ran shrine in Nagoya."  
  
"That is pure selfishness on part of my wolf. For, though our people are a rational thinking beings, Akihito, even you know that at our core we are beasts. Mine will not settle until it believes I have ensured you are safe from the threat the Shimo pack holds."  
  
Asami covered the small hands with his free one, "Additionally, I find my wolf cares little for your age. It is perfectly willing to claim you now, and I, as a rational thinking being, will not take what little you have of your childhood away from you."  
  
"You admit you think I'm a child." Akihito tugged on his hands; he couldn't continue the conversation. They were just talking in circles. Asami claimed he thought Aki could take care of himself but he still referred to him as a child. He tugged harder and squeezed his eyes shut when the man called to him.  
  
"Akihito." Asami waited until his boy stopped fighting his hold and looked back at him. He sighed at the look of disappointment and confusion in his mate's eyes. He needed to clear it; it would do neither of them any good for Akihito to journey to Nagoya with doubts. Asami's, Suoh's, and Oshiro's plan for his protection wouldn't work if the boy didn't wish to cooperate. "Akihito, I know you can take care of yourself. You've proven that more than once since I found you, and any idiot can tell you survived on your own from the day you escaped the Shimo pack."  
  
He released his boy's hands and gripped his hips. He lifted Akihito until the boy fully faced him Akihito's knees on either side of Asami's hips. He captured his boy's eyes then. "Surviving, however, is not thriving. There are many teenagers and youngsters that survive on their own. Few find work and shelter like you did. Knowing you can do so does nothing to ease my wolf. I find the old fool wants you to be as happy and carefree as he wants you to be fed and safe. Be honest, if your parents hadn't died, if the Masakados had not perished, would you be taking care of yourself?"  
  
Akihito couldn't say no. In truth, Asami's plan to send him to high school had been his mom and dad's plan as well. Not long before the Shimo pack, Alpha had come to claim "Saisho no Yoru no Kenri," they'd talked about moving just before he turned sixteen so he could attend a private high school. He shook his head, trying to chase the memories of that day away. He looked up when Asami squeezed his hips. He answered the question asked and not the one in his mate's eyes, "No. Mom and Dad wanted me to go to High School. Dad even talked about me going to Zokei University. He said the School of Photography in the Department of Design is one of the top twenty in the world."  
  
Asami felt he should try and address the burst of fear his boy had felt at the mention of the Masakados' death. However, he wanted to first push for his boy to accept going to back to school. "I would be very honored if you'd allow me to give you that chance."  
  
Aki couldn't look at Asami anymore and turned to stare out of the living room windows. The sun was lowering in the sky; late afternoon light filtered through the UV protected windows casting long shadows along the floor where it was blocked by the groups of chairs and tables. Aki found his fingers itching to snap those shadows with his camera. He could already see the montage layout of images and how he'd cut and crop them to fit the piece his mind was creating. That more than anything his mate had said settled his mind.  
  
He knew he at least needed a mentor to help him expand his skills and grow into the photographer he wanted to be. To achieve his goal of being printed in the same international magazines as his father and dad had been printed would require an extensive portfolio which must contain more than shadowing images of crooked politicians and mobsters.  
  
Both Kou and Takato had been emailing him since Asami declared he'd be attending school in Nagoya. Apparently one of the perks of staying at the Kitsune's shrine would be that all of the old priest's grandchildren would be attending the school Asami had enrolled him into as well. Spending more time with the other two teens was the one thing he'd actually looked forward to in the whole arrangement. Mainly because it would allow him to game with them more; He'd never gotten to play Assassin's Creed before Asami had found him.  
  
He turned back to his mate; resigned to his defeat in this matter and made a solemn vow he'd not allow the man to always get his way once he graduated. He was Omega, and there wasn't an Alpha in the world he'd ever bow to. 


End file.
